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Correct  English 

IN 

The  School 

Twelve  Golden  Helps 

BY 

Josephine  TurckBaker 


r    \    GT  OVER. 


C.  A.  CLOVER. 


COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SC]i06li^ 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS 


BY 

JOSEPHINE  TURCK  BAKER 

AUTHOR  OP 

CORRECT  ENGLISH :  A  COMPLETE  GRAMMAR 

TEN  THOUSAND  WORDS :  HOW  TO  PRONOUNCE  THEM 

ART  OF  CONVERSATION :  TWELVE  GOLDEN  RULES 

THE  CORRECT  ENGLISH  DRILL  BOOK 

AND  EDITOR  OP  THE  MAGAZINE 

CORRECT  ENGLISH :  HOW  TO  USE  IT 


CORRECT  ENGLISH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


•  e     «   •  ,•• 


Copyright  1909 

BY 

Josephine  Tubck  Baebb 
EDUCATION  DEIHY 


54r.n')8 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

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CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  1 

Transitive  and  Intransitive  Verbs — How  to  Distinguish  Them. 

Pupil. — I  still  have  some  difficulty  with  transitive 
verbs.  Now,  of  course  I  understand  such  constructions 
as,  *'John  struck  James;''  that  is,  I  know  that  struck  is 
transitive,  because  it  has  a  direct  object  to  receive  its 
action;  James  being  the  object— -the  receiver  of  the 
action. 

Teacher. — That  is  right.  Now,  can  you  not  formulate 
a  simple  rule  for  transitive  verbs ! 

Pupil. — A  transitive  verb  is  a  verb  that  has  an  object 
to  receive  its  action.  I  suppose,  then,  that  transitive 
verbs  are  always  followed  by  object  nouns;  that  is, 
nouns  in  the  objective  case  that  receive  the  action  of  the 
verb. 

Teacher. — No;  that  is  not  so.  A  better  rule  is  as 
follows :  ** A  transitive  verb  is  a  verb  that  has  a  receiver 
for  its  action." 

Pupil. — ^V\/liy  is  that  wording  of  the  rule  better  than 
mine? 

Teacher. — Because  it  is  broader  in  its  application, 

5 


e  COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

for  the  reason  that  the  receiver  of  the  action  may  he 
either  the  object  noun  or  the  subject  noun. 

Pupil. — That  is  just  the  point  which  confuses  me. 
You  mean,  that  whenever  there  is  a  receiver  for 
the  action, — subject  .or  object  noun — the  verb  is  then 
transitive. 

Teacher. — That  is  right.  Now  give  some  examples 
in  which  the  subject  is  the  receiver. 

Pupil. — *'John  was  struck  by  James,'' — John,  the 
subject,  is  the  receiver;  **The  pupil  was  reprimanded 
by  his  teacher," — pupil,  the  subject,  is  the  receiver. 

Teacher. — ^When  the  object  receives  the  action,  what 
is  the  voice  of  the  verb? 

Pupil. — The  active  voice;  and,  of  course,  when  the 
subject  of  the  verb  is  acted  upon,  receives  the  action, 
the  verb  is  in  the  passive  voice.  Somewhere,  I  have  seen 
the  rule  that  some  verbs  in  the  passive  voice  are  fol- 
lowed by  predicate  complements.  I  know  now  why  I 
have  never  understood  that.  It  is  because  I  have  always 
thought  that  a  verb  was  transitve  only  when  the  object 
noun  received  the  action,  and  I  could  not  see  how  a  verb 
could  have  an  object  noun,  and  a  predicate  complement 
at  the  same  time. 

Teacher. — But  you  can  understand  .how  the  verb  in 
the  sentence,  *^ He  was  elected  president,"  can  have  a 
receiver  for  its  action  in  the  subject  he,  and  at  the  same 
time  have  a  predicate  complement  in  the  noun  president 

Pupil. — Yes ;  I  see  that  now,  but  I  used  to  think  that 
transitive  verbs  were  never  followed  by  predicate  com- 
plements; and  so,  formerly,  I  should  not  have  called 
elected  a  transitive  verb. 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  7 

Teacher. — You  understand  perfectly  now  wliy  it  is? 

Pupil. — Yes ;  because  it  has  a  receiver  for  its  action 
in  the  subject  he. 

Teacher. — ^And  why  is  president  the  predicate  com- 
plement? 

Pupil. — Because  it  denotes  the  same  person  as  the 
subject. 

Teacher. — Now,  give  me  further  examples  of  transi- 
tive verbs  that  may  be  followed  by  predicate  comple- 
ments. 

Pupil. — ^^He  was  made  secretary  and  treasurer;'' 
'*The  boy  was  named  John;''  *^The  baby  was  christened 
Mary," 

Teacher. — So  we  see  that  a  transtive  verb  is  not  nec- 
essarily followed  by  an  object  noun ;  that  it  may  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  predicate  complement,  and  that  when  it  is, 
the  subject  noun  is  the  receiver  of  the  action.  But  of 
course,  you  understand  that  when  the  receiver  of  the 
action  is  the  subject,  the  verb  is  not  necessarily  followed 
by  a  predicate  complement. 

Pupil. — Oh,  yes !    I  understand  that  perfectly. 

Teacher. — Give  some  sentences  in  which  the  transi- 
tive verb  is  not  followed  either  by  a  predicate  comple- 
ment or  by  a  direct  object. 

Pupil.— ** John  was  punished  by  his  teacher;"  **The 
door  was  opened  softly."  I  see  that  whenever  a  noun 
in  the  objective  case  follows  a  transitive  verb  that  has 
the  subject  noun  for  the  receiver  of  its  action,  then  the 
noun  in  the  objective  case  is  always  the  object  of  a  prep- 
osition, and  not  the  direct  object  of  the  verb. 

Teacher. — There  is  an  apparent  exception  to  this  rule 


8  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

in  sentences  like  these:  *^He  was  given  a  benefit;''  ^^The 
nations  should  have  been  given  warning;''  but  construc- 
tions of  this  kind  are  censured  by  grammarians,  for  the 
reason  that  the  indirect  object  is  made  the  subject  and 
receiver  of  the  action.  Thus :  in  the  sentence,  *  *  He  was 
given  a  benefit,"  the  real  meaning  is,  **A  benefit  was 
given  to  him."  In  the  sentence,  **The  nations  should 
have  been  given  warning,"  the  meaning  is,  ** Warning 
should  have  been  given  to  the  nations. ' '  In  other  words, 
in  the  original  constructions,  there  are  apparently  two 
receivers  for  the  action,  namely,  the  subject  and  the 
object  noun,  whereas  there  is  in  reality  but  one.  It  is 
better,  probably,  to  avoid  forms  of  this  kind,  and  make 
the  subject  the  indirect  object. 

Pupil. — Oh!  There  is  one  construction  that  I  must 
not  forget  to  ask  you  about.  In  the  sentence,  *^I  gave 
the  child  an  apple,"  there  seems  to  be  two  direct  objects. 

Teacher. — Yes;  but  there  is  only  one,  namely,  the 
word  apple,  child  being  the  indirect  object,  the  object  of 
the  preposition  to  understood;  thus:  **I  gave  to  the 
child  an  apple." 

Teacher. — Now  give  sentences  exemplifying  all  the 
points  considered  in  this  discussion. 

Pupil. — **John  was  struck  by  James."  (The  subject 
is  the  receiver  of  the  action,  and  the  verb  is  followed  by 
on  indirect  object;  that  is,  the  object  of  a  preposition.) 
*^John  struck  J  antes  J'  (The  object  noun  is  the  receiver 
of  the  action.)  ^^He  was  appointed  secretary."  (Sub- 
ject is  the  receiver  of  the  action,  and  the  verb  is  followed 
by  a  predicate  complement ;  that  is,  a  noun  that  denotes 
or  refers  to  the  same  person  as  the  subject.)    *^They 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  9 

called  him  John/'  (The  object  is  the  receiver  of  the 
action  and  is  followed  by  a  noun  that  denotes  the  same 
person  as  the  object.) 

Teacher. — Now  we  must  discuss  the  last  construc- 
tion; that  is,  where  the  object  is  the  receiver  of  the 
action,  and  is  followed  by  a  noun  in  the  same  case. 

Pupil. — Grammarians  seem  to  have  some  trouble  in 
agreeing  upon  the  name  to  give  the  noun  that  follows 
the  object  noun  in  constructions  of  this  kind. 

Teacher.  —  Yes,  some  grammarians  call  the  noun 
under  consideration  the  factitive  object;  some  call  it  the 
supplement,  but  whatever  its  name,  it  denotes  or  refers 
to  the  same  person  or  thing  as  the  object.  I  see  that 
you  understand  this  perfectly.  Now  tell  me  what  is  the 
difference  between  the  factitive  object,  or  supplement, 
and  the  predicate  complement. 

Pupil. — The  factitive  object,  or  supplement,  denotes, 
or  refers  to,  the  same  person  or  thing  as  the  object,  while 
the  predicate  complement  denotes,  or  refers  to,  the  same 
person  or  thing  as  the  subject. 

Teacher. — That  is  right.  Then  the  factitive  object 
is  in  the  objective  case,  while  the  predicate  complement 
is  in  the  same  case  as  the  subject. 

Pupil. — Then  it  is  always  in  the  nominative  case, 
isn't  it? 

Teacher. — ^Yes,  unless  we  designate  as  the  predicate 
complement  the  noun  or  pronoun  that  follows  the  infini- 
tive to  he  when  the  infinitive  has  a  subject. 

Pupil. — Oh,  yes.  In  such  sentences  as  **I  supposed 
it  to  be  him,"  him  is  in  the  objective  case,  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  in  the  objective  case.    It  is,  of  course,  in  the 


10  COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

objective  ease,  because  it  is  the  subject  of  the  infinitive 
to  be. 

Teacher. — Yes;  there  are  two  rules  involved  in  that 
construction:  Eule  1.  The  subject  of  an  infinitive  is 
always  in  the  objective  case.  Eule  2.  The  noun  or  pro- 
noun after  the  verb  to  be  is  always  in  the  same  case  as 
the  noun  or  pronoun  before  the  verb  to  be. 

Pupil. — Some  grammarians  always  call  the  predicate 
complement  the  predicate  nominative.  How,  then,  can  a 
noun  in  the  objective  case  be  a  predicate  complement? 

Teacher. — Grammarians  differ  as  to  the  application 
of  these  terms.  In  such  constructions  as  ^*I  supposed  it 
to  be  him,"  we  might  call  him  simply  the  complement, 
and  use  the  term  *' predicate  complement''  only  when 
it  can  be  used  synonymously  with  the  term  predicate 
nominative.  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  adopt  specific 
terms  and  then  to  use  them  understandingly. 

Pupil. — I  should  like  to  adopt  the  terms  used  in  Cor- 
RECT  English,  in  the  chapter  entitled  ** The  Complement." 

Teacher. — Now  define  an  intransitive  verb. 

Pupil. — An  intransitive  verb  is  a  verb  that  expresses 
existence,  state  (condition),  or  action  that  requires  no 
object  to  receive  it. 

Teacher. — Give  some  examples  of  intransitive  verbs. 

Pupil.— '^I  am  he";  '^I  feel  sad";  **He  looks  ill." 

Teacher. — That  is  correct.  Now,  do  not  forget  that  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  transitive  verb  is 
that  it  always  has  a  receiver  for  its  action, — the  receiver 
being  either  the  subject  or  the  object  noun, — while  the 
intransitive  verb  either  stands  alone,  or  is  followed  by 
some  word  that  modifies  it  or  is  related  to  the  subject. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  II 

The  Infinitive  Noun  Clause  the  Receiver  of  the  Action. 

Pupil. — I  wonder  whether  I  thoroughly  understand 
such  constructions  as,  *  *  They  made  him  president, ' ' 
**They  chose  him  captain."  Do  these  sentences  mean, 
^^They  made  him  to  he  president,*'  **They  chose  him  to 
he  captain"! 

Teacher. — Virtually,  yes;  but  grammarians,  gener- 
ally, do  not  so  construe  sentences  of  this  kind. 

Pupil. — In  one  of  the  text-books,  in  the  Library,  I  find 
the  rule:  Verbs  of  choosing,  calling,  naming,  making, 
and  thinking,  may  take  two  objects  referring  to  the  same 
person  or  thing. 

As  I  have  said,  this  second  so-called  object  is  named, 
by  some  grammarians,  the  factitive  object ;  by  others,  the 
predicate  objective  or  the  complementary  object.  An- 
other grammarian  calls  it  the  supplement.  Whenever  it 
is  possible,  we  should  supply  the  verb  to  he  and  then 
construe  the  words  that  follow  the  principal  verb  as  con- 
stituting an  infinitive  noun  clause.  This  clause  can  then 
be  regarded  as  the  object  and  receiver  of  the  action. 

Pupil. — Then  you  would  not  regard  the  noun  that 
follows  the  verb,  the  object  noun. 

Teacher. — No;  because  while  it  might  be  in  accord- 
ance with  the  grammar  of  the  language  to  do  so  in  some 
instances,  there  are  many  constructions  where  the  so- 
called  object  noun  or  pronoun  can  not  be  so  construed, 

XX 


12  CORKECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Pupil. — That  is  so;  for  in  the  text-book  to  which  I 
have  just  referred,  under  the  same  rule, — Verbs  of 
choosing,  calling,  naming,  making,  and  thinking,  etc.,  the 
example,  ^*I  thought  him  a  rascal,''  is  given  to  show 
that  the  verb  think  can  take  a  direct  object  him,  and  a 
complementary  object  rascal. 

Teacher. — This  instruction  is  incorrect.  As  Correct 
English  indicates,  the  verb  think  can  not  have  a  pro- 
noun as  its  object.  One  can  think  thoughts,  but  one  can 
not  think  him;  one  can,  however,  think  him  to  be  a  rascal. 
In  other  words,  **him  to  be  a  rascaP'  can  be  construed  as 
the  receiver  of  the  thought,  while  him  alone  can  not  be 
so  construed,  for  the  reason  that  the  result  does  not 
make  sense. 

Pupil. — Then,  I  suppose,  you  reason  that  the  word 
which  follows  the  verb  in  such  sentences  as,  ' '  They  made 
him  president''  and  ^^They  chose  him  captain,"  should 
not  be  construed  as  the  object. 

Teacher. — It  would  be  logical  to  regard  the  infinitive 
noun  clauses,  ^*him  to  be  president"  and  **him  to  be 
captain"  as  the  real  objects  and  receivers  of  the  actions. 
You  will  get  my  meaning  if  you  will  compare  these  sen- 
tences with  the  following:  *^She  made  a  dress;"  **I 
chose  this  ring."  You  can  see  that  while  the  nouns  dress 
and  ring  are  the  objects,  respectively,  of  the  verbs  made 
and  chose,  in  the  other  sentences,  the  pronoun  him  is  not 
in  itself  the  receiver  of  the  action,  and,  hence,  the  entire 
clause  (infinitive)  should  be  construed  as  the  object.  Of 
course,  some  of  the  verbs  in  your  list  may  be  said  to  take 
a  direct  object ;  as,  for  example,  the  verb  call.  Thus :  in 
the  sentence,  ^^They  called  him  John,"  him  may  be  con- 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  13 

strued  as  the  receiver  of  the  action,  and  hence,  as  the 
direct  object;  for  in  this  sentence,  there  is  really  an 
ellipsis  of  the  modifying  phrase,  *^by  the  name  of^' — 
**They  called  him  by  the  name  of  John." 

Pupil. — What  shall  we  do  then  about  these  variant 
sentences  ^ 

Teacher. — To  avoid  confusion,  I  should  regard  the 
verb,  whenever  possible,  as  followed  by  an  infinitive  noun 
clause,  which  is  to  be  construed  as  the  direct  object  of 
the  verb  and  receiver  of  its  action;  while  in  such  sen- 
tences as,  '^They  called  him  John,"  for  convenience  sake, 
John  can  be  parsed  as  a  complement  in  the  objective  case 
to  agree  with  the  pronoun  /itm,  to  which  it  refers. 

Now,  for  a  drill  you  may  dispose  of  the  words  that 
follow  the  verb  in  these  sentences  from  our  text-book : 

1.  The  nobles  made  the  prince  their  king. 

2.  Caesar  appointed  Brutus  governor  of  a  province. 

3.  I  thought  him  a  gentleman. 

4.  The  judge  deemed  him  a  criminal. 

5.  The  club  chose  Thomas  secretary. 

Pupil. — I  think  the  infinitive  should  be,  by  all  means, 
supplied  in  the  sentence,  **I  thought  him  a  gentleman;" 
and  in  all  the  other  sentences,  I  think  it  simplifies  mat- 
ters to  supply  the  infinitive. 

Teacher. — I  see  that  you  understand  my  meaning  per- 
fectly. Then  instead  of  calling  the  word  that  follows  the 
infinitive  the  supplement  or  the  factitive  object,  etc.,  we 
shall  call  it  simply  the  object  complement  (in  the  objec- 
tive case)  to  distinguish  it  from  the  predicate  comple- 
ment— the  complement  in  the  nominative  case. 


14  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Pupil. — What  shall  we  do  with  the  adjectives  in  such 
sentences  as,  **He  made  the  child  quieV^I 

Teacher. — Eegard  quiet  as  an  adjective  modifier  of 
child  thus:  **He  made  the  child  to  be  quiet,'*  quiet  being 
the  complement  in  the  infinitive  noun  clause  **  child  to 
be  quief 

The  Omission  of  the  Sign  of  the  Infinitive. 

Teacher. — A  few  minutes  since,  we  discussed  ail  such 
constructions  as,  '*They  elected  him  president,*'  **They 
thought  him  a  gentleman;"  and,  in  analyzing  the  sen- 
tences, we  supplied  the  infinitive  to  he;  thus:  **They 
elected  him  to  he  president;"  ''They  thought  him  to  he 
a  gentleman."  Now,  can  you  give  me  some  examples  of 
sentences  in  which  only  the  sign  of  the  infinitive,  the 
preposition  to  is  omitted? 

Pupil. — Do  you  mean  such  constructions  as,  ''I  shall 
go,"  ''You  may  go,"  "He  must  go,"  "He  can  go"?  I 
remember  reading  in  one  of  our  text-books  that  the  sign 
of  the  infinitive,  the  preposition  to,  is  omitted  after  the 
verbs  may,  can,  shall,  will,  and  must,  and  that  these  verbs 
are  now  regarded  as  auxiliaries,  while  the  infinitives  are 
parsed  as  the  principal  verbs. 

Teacher. — I  did  not  have  in  mind  constructions  of  this 
kind,  for  we  no  longer  think  of  the  sign  of  the  infinitive 
as  being  omitted;  thus:  "I  may  to  go,"  "I  can  to  go," 
etc.  I  meant  such  sentences  as,  "I  let  him  go,''  "You 
dare  not  go,''  etc. 

Pupil. — Oh,  yes!  I  was  studying  the  rule  that  gov- 
erns these  constructions  only  to-day.     I  think  I  can 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  15 

repeat  it :  The  sign  of  the  infinitive,  the  preposition  to, 
is  omitted,  in  special  constructions  after  the  verbs  let, 
dare,  do,  bid,  make,  see,  hear,  feel,  need,  etc.  Thus:  ^^I 
let  him  go'^  {to  go) ;  '*You  dare  not  do  if  {to  do) ;  **I 
made  the  child  waW  {to  walk);  **We  heard  the  lion 
roar''  {to  roar) ;  *^I  felt  her  heart  beat''  {to  beat) ;  ^* You 
need  not  go''  {to  go),  etc. 

Teacher. — That  is  right.  Now  parse  the  infinitive  in 
the  sentence,  **I  let  him  go;"  in  fact,  you  may  analyze 
the  entire  construction. 

Pupil. — **I  let  him  go,"  is  a  simple  sentence,  of  which 
**I"  is  both  the  complete  and  the  simple  subject;  ^*let 
him  go,"  is  the  complete  predicate;  let  is  the  predicate 
verb,  and  him  to  go  is  the  object  and  receiver  of  the  action 
expressed  by  the  verb  let;  ^^him  to  go"  is  an  infinitive 
noun  clause,  of  which  him  is  the  subject  and  to  go  is  the 
verb ;  him  is  in  the  objective  case  because  it  is  the  subject 
of  an  infinitive.  Eule. — The  subject  of  an  infinitive  is  in 
the  objective  case. 

Teacher. — There  is  something  very  peculiar  about 
this  construction,  and  others  of  a  like  nature.  Can  you 
tell  me  what  it  is! 

Pupil. — No ;  I  can  not. 

Teacher. — There  is  an  incongruity  in  your  analysis. 
You  called  the  sentence  simple,  and  you  also  said  that 
*^him  to  go"  was  an  infinitive  noun  clause;  now  how  can 
you  reconcile  your  two  statements? 

Pupil. — ^I  suppose  I  should  have  called  ''him  to  go" 
an  infinitive  noun  phrase.  I  note  that,  in  one  of  our  text- 
books, the  infinitive  verb  with  its  subject  is  called  a 
phrase. 


16  COEEECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Teacher. — That  is  incorrect;  for,  if  we  concede  that 
the  infinitive  is  a  verb  when  it  has  a  subject  in  the  objec- 
tive case,  then  the  infinitive  and  its  subject  constitute  a 
clause.  Now,  if  it  is  true  that  the  infinitive  and  its  sub- 
ject should  be  regarded  as  forming  a  clause,  it  is  evident 
that  the  sentence,  *'I  let  him  go,''  is  not  a  simple  sen- 
tence. 

Pupil. — Surely,  grammarians  regard  all  such  con- 
structions as  those  which  we  are  discussing,  as  simple. 

Teacher. — That  is  wherein  the  incongruity  lies.  In 
strict  analysis,  inasmuch  as  the  infinitive  is  a  verb,  and, 
with  its  subject,  constitutes  an  infinitive  noun  clause,  and 
as  sentences  in  which  other  noun  clauses  such  as  **I  know 
that  I  shall  go,"  are  regarded  as  complex,  it  should  seem 
that  constructions  like  the  foregoing  should  be  regarded 
as  complex. 

Pupil. — Shall  I  call  these  sentences  complex? 

Teacher. — I  should  call  them  complex,  for  there  are 
really  two  clauses, — a  principal  and  a  subordinate  clause; 
thus :  in  the  sentence,  **I  let  him  (to)  go,''  **I  let  him  go" 
is  the  principal,  and  '*him  (to)  go,"  is  the  subordinate 
clause. 

Pupil. — But  there  is  no  connective. 

Teacher. — Not  every  complex  sentence  contains  a  con- 
nective. Thus:  in  the  sentence,  **He  said,  'I  shall  go  to 
the  city  to-morrow,'  "  there  is  no  connective  between  the 
subordinate  clause,  ^^I  shall  go  to  the  city  to-morrow," 
and  the  principal  clause,  **He  said,"  etc. 

Pupil. — ^In  connection  with  the  verb  need,  is  not  the 
form  of  the  third  person  always  the  same  as  that  of  the 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  It 

second  and  the  third?  In  other  words,  isn't  the  ^'s^' 
usually  omitted;  as,  **I  need  go,''  *VYou  need  go,"  **He 
need  go  "I 

Teacher. — Yes;  when  need  expresses  necessity,  the 
**s"  is  usually  omitted  before  the  infinitive. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  III 

The  Infinitive  as  a  Modifier  and  as  an  Object:   How  to  Dis- 
tinguish Them. 

Pupil. — Although  you  have  explained  some  special 
uses  of  the  infinitive,  I  still  fail  to  see,  or  rather  to  dis- 
tinguish, the  difference  between  the  infinitive  when  used 
as  a  modifier  of  the  verb,  and  the  infinitive  when  used  as 
an  object  noun. 

Teacher. — You  understand,  do  you  not,  that  when  the 
infinitive  is  used  as  a  modifier, — adjective  or  adverbial,  it 
is  then  construed  as  a  noun  with  the  preposition  for  un- 
derstood, but  not  expressed? 

Pupil. — I  have  no  trouble  with  this,  but  there  are  some 
special  constructions  that  bother  me. 

Teacher. — Give  me  some  examples  in  order  that  I  may 
better  understand  your  difficulty. 

Pupil. — In  CoKKECT  English,  the  infinitive  to  learn  is 
given  as  an  adverbial  modifier  of  tried  in  the  sentence,  *  *  I 
tried  to  learn  this;''  while,  in  the  sentence,  **I  like  to 
sing,"  the  infinitive  to  sing  is  given  as  the  object  of  the 
verb  like.  Now,  why  is  not  to  learn  the  object  of  triecfi 
I  do  not  see  any  difference  between  the  verbs  tried  and 
like. 

Teacher. — Like  is  a  transitive  verb ;  that  is,  it  requires 
a  receiver  for  its  action ;  tried,  when  used  in  the  sense  of 
endeavor,  is  an  intransitive  verb,  and,  hence,  it  can  not  be 

18 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  19 

followed  by  an  object ;  that  is,  it  has  no  receiver  for  its 
action.  For  example,  if  I  say,  **I  like,"  the  question 
arises,  '^whatT'  ^^What  or  whom  do  I  like?"  In  other 
words,  I  must  have  an  object  to  like;  as,  **I  like  him;'' 
''1  like  this  book."  When  I  say,  ^^I  try"  or  ^^I  en- 
deavor," I  do  not  require  an  object  to  receive  my  action. 
I  am  making  this  effort  in  order  to  accomplish  something. 
In  other  words,  I  am  trying  or  endeavoring  for  the  pur- 
pose of  accomplishing  something.  Do  you  not  see  that 
while  I  can  like  him  or  like  this  hooJc,  1  cannot  try  or 
endeavor  him  or  try  and  endeavor  this  book?  Conse- 
quently, the  infinitive  that  follows  the  verb  try  or 
endeavor  is  used  as  a  modifier ;  it  completes  the  meaning 
of  the  verb  by  expressing  its  purpose. 

Pupil. — Sometimes  we  use  such  expressions  as,  **He 
tries  my  patience,"  **I  am  going  to  try  my  luck."  Isn't 
try  a  transitive  verb  in  these  sentences?  It  surely  has  an 
object  in  each  case  to  receive  its  action. 

Teacher. — Yes;  but  try  in  these  sentences  is  used  in 
the  sense  of  ^  *  to  put  to  the  test  or  proof ; ' '  while  in  the 
sentence  given  in  Cokkect  English,  try  is  used  only  in 
the  sense  of  endeavor. 

Pupil. — It  seems  to  me  that,  in  some  dictionary  or 
text-book,  I  have  seen  try  given  as  a  transitive  verb  when 
used  in  the  sense  of  endeavor. 

Teacher. — ^Yes;  but  that  doesn't  make  it  transitive. 
My  explanation  shows  conclusively  that  there  is  no  re- 
ceiver for  the  action  when  try  is  used  in  the  sense  of 
endeavor.  Century  Dictionary  gives  the  correct  expo- 
sition of  this.  Under  try  (intransitive  use)  it  says: 
Try. — Intransitive:    To  exert  strength;  make  an  effort, 


20  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

endeavor;  as,  *^to  try  for  a  situation;''  while  under 
endeavor  (intransitive)  it  says:  Endeavor. — Intransi- 
tive: To  labor  or  exert  one's  self  to  do  or  effect  some- 
thing;  try;  make  an  effort;  followed  hy  an  infinitive. 

You  can  readily  see  that  any  other  version  or  expo- 
sition of  the  infinitive  after  try  or  endeavor  is  incorrect, 
no  matter  in  what  dictionary  or  in  what  text-book  it  may 
be  found. 

Pupil. — Why  do  grammarians  differ  so  from  one  an- 
other? I  should  think  that  in  a  case  of  this  kind,  they 
would  all  agree. 

Teacher. — One  would  think  so;  but  not  all  gram- 
marians are  logical ;  sometimes  they  are  inconsistent ;  but 
they  all  have  one  point  in  common,  namely,  they  are  all 
human,  and  hence  are  apt  to  err. 

Pupil. — There  is  another  point  with  which  I  have 
difficulty.  I  cannot  tell  when  an  infinitive  is  a  verb,  and 
when  it  is  a  modifier.  For  example,  in  the  sentence,  **I 
brought  water  to  drink,"  I  don't  know  whether  to  drink 
is  a  verb  in  the  infinitive  mode  or  an  adjective  modifier. 
It  is  preceded  by  a  noun  in  the  objective  case,  and  for 
this  reason,  the  infinitive  has  the  appearance  of  a  verb; 
on  the  other  hand,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  different  from 
the  infinitive  in  the  sentence  in  Correct  English,  **  Water 
to  drink  is  scarce."  To  drink  is  given  as  an  adjective 
modifier  of  water  in  this  sentence,  and  so  it  should  be 
regarded  as  an  adjective  modifier  of  water  in  the  sen- 
tence, **I  have  some  water  to  drink,' ' 

Teacher. — It  is  a  modifier  of  water  in  both  construc- 
tions, the  meaning  being  ^* water  (for)  to  drink" — water 
for  drinking  purposes. 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  21 

Pupil. — Well,  in  the  sentence  **I  told  him  to  sing/' 
why  is  to  sing  given  as  a  verb  in  the  infinitive  mode? 
It  cannot  be  merely  because  it  is  preceded  by  a  word  in 
the  objective  case,  for  the  reason  that  the  infinitive  in 
the  sentence,  **I  have  some  water  to  drink,"  is  also  pre- 
ceded by  a  word  in  the  objective  case. 

Teacher. — The  reason  why  the  infinitive  is  a  verb  in 
the  sentence,  *'I  told  him  to  sing,''  is  because  an  action 
is  to  he  performed  hy  its  subject.  In  other  words.  Mm 
is  going  to  sing;  while  in  the  sentence,  **I  have  water 
to  drink,"  the  water  is  not  going  to  do  the  drinking. 

Pupil. — Then,  whenever  the  noun  (or  pronoun)  that 
precedes  the  subject  is  going  to  perform  an  act,  the 
infinitive  is  a  verb. 

Teacher. — Yes;  or  if  some  condition  or  state  is  ex- 
pressed of  the  noun  or  pronoun;  as,  **I  supposed  it  to 
be  him." 

Pupil. — Then,  in  the  sentences  given  in  Coeeect  Eng- 
lish,— **I  asked  him  to  return  home,"  ^^I  invited  him 
to  call,"  the  infinitives  are  verbs,  for  the  reason  that  in 
each  case  him  is  going  to  do  something. 

Teacher. — ^Yes;  and  in  the  sentence,  ^^The  ability  to 
laugh  is  peculiar  to  mankind,"  the  infinitive  is  not  a 
verb,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  not  going  to  do  the 
laughing. 

Pupil. — I  think  that  I  understand  this  much  better 
now  that  you  have  explained  it  fully. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  IV 

The  Gerund  (Verbal  Noun)  and  the  Participle :  How  to 
Distinguish  Them. 

Pupil. — I  have  difficulty  in  distinguishing  the  differ- 
ence between  participles  and  gerunds.  I  know  that  they 
are  both  verbals ;  that  is,  words  formed  from  verbs  and 
having  a  double  function,  and  I  know  also  that  the  noun 
or  pronoun  preceding  the  gerund  must  be  in  the  pos- 
sessive case ;  but  how  can  I  tell  when  the  gerundial  con- 
struction is  required,  and  when  the  participal?  for  you 
see,  without  an  understanding  of  this  difference,  one 
cannot  determine  when  to  use  the  possessive  case  before 
the  verbal. 

Teacher. — Let  us  cite  some  examples.  Which  do  you 
think  is  correct:  **I  am  surprised  at  John  going,''  or 
**I  am  surprised  at  John^s  going"? 

Pupil. — I  suppose  that  the  second  construction  is 
correct. 

Teacher. — Can  you  tell  why  I 

Pupil. — I  suppose  it  is  because  the  speaker  is  sur- 
prised at  the  going  of  John,  and  not  at  John  himself. 

Teacher. — Now  give  a  sentence  in  which  the  posses- 
sive case  is  not  required  before  the  verbal. 

Pupil. — **  John,  going  to  the  office  unexpectedly,  found 
that  it  was  closed.'' 

Teacher. — Now,  why  is  it  not  John's  going"? 

22 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  23 

Pupil. — Because  it  is  John,  and  not  going,  who  found 
that  the  office  was  closed. 

Teacher. — You  see,  then,  that  in  order  to  determine 
when  the  verbal  is  a  participle,  and  when  a  gerund,  it  is 
necessary  only  to  ascertain  the  meaning  to  be  conveyed. 
Of  course,  one  rarely  has  difficulty  with  the  participial 
construction ;  it  is  the  gerundial  that  troubles  one.  Now, 
tell  me  why  it  is  so  necessary  to  distinguish  the  participle 
from  the  gerund? 

Pupil. — Because  the  noun  or  pronoun  preceding  the 
gerund  must  be  put  into  the  possessive  case. 

Teacher. — ^You  may  add,  ^*  while  the  noun  or  pronoun 
preceding  the  participle  must  be  in  either  the  nominative 
or  the  objective  case."  Now,  let  us  formulate  the  rule 
and  give  several  examples. 

Eule. — A  noun  or  pronoun  preceding  a  participle  is 
always  in  either  the  nominative  or  the  objective  case; 
while  a  noun  or  pronoun  preceding  a  gerund  is  always  in 
the  possessive  case. 

Examples, 
(the  participle.) 

John,  leaving  home  without  the  permission  of  his 
parents,  soon  began  to  regret  his  folly. 

Mary,  going  to  the  office  unexpectedly,  found  that 
her  employer  had  returned. 

(the  gerund.) 

I  am  surprised  at  John's  leaving  home  without  the 
permission  of  his  parents. 


24  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

I  see  no  reason  why  Mary's  going  should  affect  your 
plans. 

We  may  formulate  another  rule : 

Eule. — The  gerund  itself  is  always  in  either  the 
nominative  or  the  objective  case,  while  the  participle 
does  not  possess  the  property  of  case,  it  being  always 
construed  as  a  modifier.    Thus : 


THE  PARTICIPLE. 

Singing  merry  songs,  the  child  whiled  away  many  a 
weary  hour. 

THE    GERUND. 

Singing  merry  songs  caused  the  child  to  forget  his 
loneliness. 

Pupil. — Yes;  I  see.  In  the  sentence,  *' Singing  merry 
songs,  the  child  whiled  away  many  a  weary  hour, ' '  sing- 
ing would  be  regarded  as  an  adjective  modifier  of  child ; 
that  is,  *'a  singing  child." 

Teacher. — Yes;  or  the  participial  phrase,  ^^ Singing 
merry  songs,"  would  be  parsed  as  an  adjective  modifier 
of  child;  singing,  being  formed  from  a  transitive  verb, 
has  an  object  in  the  noun  songs;  for,  of  course,  as  you 
know,  a  participle  possesses  the  functions  of  both  a  verb 
and  an  adjective ;  while  a  gerund  possesses  those  of  both 
a  verb  and  a  noun.  Because  of  their  verb  nature,  when 
derived  from  transitive  verbs,  they  always  require  a 
receiver  for  their  action. 

Pupil. — Hitherto,  I  have  always  had  difficulty  in  dis- 
tinguishing between  the  gerund,  when  used  as  an  object 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  25 

of  a  transitive  verb,  and  the  participle  when  used  to 
modify  a  noun  in  the  objective  case. 

Teacher. — Give  me  some  examples. 

Pupil. — My  difficulty,  formerly,  was  in  constructions 
like  these : 

I  enjoyed  John's  playing, 

I  saw  John  playing  ball. 

Now,  I  could  never  tell  which  was  the  gerund,  and 
which  the  participle.    Of  course,  I  know  now. 

Teacher. — The  test  is  Eule  1 ;  a  noun  or  pronoun  pre- 
ceding a  participle  is  always  in  either  the  nominative 
or  the  objective  case,  while  a  noun  or  pronoun  preceding 
a  gerund  is  always  in  the  possessive  case. 

Pupil. — Now,  I  want  to  go  one  step  farther.  Suppose 
that  I  am  in  doubt  as  to  the  construction  in  question ;  for 
example,  suppose  that  I  wish  to  revise  manuscript  for 
others,  as  I  intend  doing  after  I  am  graduated. 

Teacher. — Examine  the  construction  by  the  following 
test:  If  you  can  expand  it  so  as  to  make  the  verbal  a 
verb  proper y  then  the  verbal  is  a  participle;  otherwise, 
it  is  not.  Thus,  the  sentence,  ^*I  saw  John  playing  ball,'' 
may  be  expanded  to  mean,  **I  saw  John,  and  he  was 
playing  hall,^^  or  **I  saw  John  while  he  was  playing  ball;'' 
while  the  sentence,  **I  enjoyed  John's  playing,"  cannot  be 
so  expanded,  for  it  is  evident  that  the  meaning  is,  **I  en- 
joyed the  playing  done  by  John."  In  other  words,  in  the 
first  sentence,  the  object  of  the  verb  is  *^John;"  in  the 
second  it  is  playing.  Now,  you  can  readily  see  that,  inas- 
much as  the  gerund  is  always  a  noun,  if  it  is  preceded  by 
another  noun  or  a  pronoun,  that  noun  or  pronoun  must 


26  COREECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

be  converted  into  an  adjective  modifier,  and,  hence,  must 
be  in  the  possessive  case. 

Pupil. — ^Yes;  I  see  that  perfectly.  Now,  in  the  sen- 
tence, **I  admired  her  dancing, *'  is  her  in  the  objective 
case,  or  is  it  in  the  possessive  1  In  other  words,  is  dancing 
a  gerund  or  a  participle  ? 

Teacher. — ^You  tell  me. 

Pupil. — Let  me  see.  I  must  determine  that  by  ex- 
panding the  construction:  ^^I  admired  her,  and  she  was 
dancing.*'  No,  I  didn't  admire  her,  I  admired  her 
dancing;  that  is,  I  admired  the  dancing  done  by  her; 
dancing,  then,  is  a  gerund,  and  not  a  participle;  so,  of 
course,  her  is  in  the  possessive  case. 

Teacher. — Yes,  that  is  right.  Of  course,  the  form  of 
the  possessive  and  the  objective  case  is  the  same  for  the 
feminine  gender.  One  would  not  have  the  same  trouble 
in  construing  the  case  of  pronouns  in  the  masculine 
gender.  Now,  give  another  example,  but  make  the  pro- 
noun masculine. 

Pupil. — ^*I  saw  him  running  down  the  street."  This 
can  be  expanded,  **I  saw  him,  and  he  was  running,'' 
etc.,  or  '^ while  he  was  running.''  It  is  evident  that  run- 
ning is  a  participle,  and  that  the  objective  form  of  the 
pronoun  is  correct.  It  is  evident,  too,  that  the  gerund 
itself  is  either  a  subject  noun,  an  object  noun,  or  a  predi- 
cate complement,  and  hence  is  always  in  either  the  nomi- 
native or  the  objective  case.  I  see  very  plainly  that  if 
the  gerund  is  preceded  by  a  noun  or  a  pronoun,  that  noun 
or  pronoun  must  be  put  in  the  possessive  case. 

Now,  for  a  drill,  you  may  correct  the  errors  in  the 
following : 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  27 

I  must  not  forget  how,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  I 
became  a  landowner,  thanks  to  my  name  being  on  the 
roll  of  Colonel  Clark's  regiment. — Winston  Churchill  in 
The  Crossing. 

There  was  no  chance  of  Hamilton  moving  at  present. 
-^Ibid, 

**The  common  report  was,  I  believe,"  pursued  the 
lawyer,  'Hhat  the  old  man  didn't  know  of  the  place  being 
for  sale  until  he  heard  the  auctioneer's  hammer  on  the 
lawn,  and  that  his  mind  left  him  from  the  moment — this 
was,  of  course,  mere  idle  talk." — Ellen  Glascow  in  The 
Deliverance, 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  V 

The  Nominative  or  the  Objective  Case  After  Than  and  As: 
When  to  Use  It. 

Pupil. — I  often  have  difficulty  with  the  conjunction 
than;  that  is,  I  do  not  know,  in  all  cases,  when  to  use 
the  nominative  after  it,  and  when  to  use  the  objective. 

Teacher. — The  nominative  form  is  required  after  than 
when  there  is  an  ellipsis  of  the  verb  following  the  noun 
or  pronoun  expressed.  The  objective  form  is  required 
after  than  when  there  is  an  ellipsis  of  both  subject  and 
verb  after  than.    Thus : 

*  *  I  like  her  better  than  /le  ( does ) . "  *  ^  I  like  her  better 
than  him  (I  like  her  better  than  I  do  him)." 

Pupil. — I  understand  this  perfectly;  but  that  is  not 
my  difficulty.  I  have  trouble  with  such  constructions  as, 
**I  saw  a  tree  larger  than  a  house,"  Now,  tree  is  in  the 
objective  case,  it  being  the  object  of  the  verb  saw;  now, 
should  not  house  be  in  the  objective  case,  too?  Is  it  not 
connected  with  tree  by  the  conjunction  than' ^9 

Teacher. — No;  for  the  reason  that  the  conjunction 
than,  unlike  the  conjunction  and  or  or  (or  nor),  for 
example,  does  not  connect  ivords;  it  connects  clauses. 
The  sentence  expanded  reads,  **I  saw  a  tree  taller  than  a 
house  is.'' 

Pupil. — ^Why  can  we  not  expand  it  to  read,  *  *  I  saw  a 
tree  taller  than  I  saw  a  house''?  In  this  construction, 
house  would  be  in  the  objective  case. 

28 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  29 

Teacher. — But  this  is  not  the  meaning.  You  can 
readily  see  that  the  construction  should  be  expanded  so 
as  to  read,  **I  saw  a  tree  taller  than  a  house  is,  if  you 
will  compare  it  with  the  sentence,  *^I  saw  a  man  taller 
than  he/'  Now,  it  is  evident  that  the  meaning  is  **than 
he  is/^  and  not  *^I  saw  a  man  taller  than  I  saw  him." 

Pupil. — I  see  this  plainly  now.  I  can  also  see  that  if 
than  connects  words  instead  of  clauses,  house  and  he 
would  be  in  the  objective  case. 

Teacher. — Some  grammarians  do  not  bring  out  this 
point  fully  that  than  is  always  a  conjunction,  and  that  it 
always  connects  clauses. 

Pupil. — I  remember  reading  in  some  text-book  that 
than  had  the  appearance  of  a  preposition  in  such  con- 
structions as,  ** Satan  than  whom  none  higher  sat,''  but 
that  *Uhan  whom"  was  idiomatic. 

Teacher. — ^As  indicated  in  Corkect  English,  although 
**than  whom"  does  not  conform  to  the  grammar  of  the 
language,  it  does  to  its  usage,  and,  in  consequence  is 
recorded  as  correct,  for  it  not  only  has  had  the  literary 
sanction  of  classical  writers  for  centuries,  but  also  has 
the  sanction  of  the  best  literary  employment  of  the 
present  time. 

Now,  for  a  drill  on  the  use  of  the  proper  case  after 
than  you  may  diagram  these  sentences. 

It  was  no  other  than  he. 

He  is  taller  than  I. 

I  like  him  better  than  him. 

I  saw  a  tree  taller  than  a  house. 

He  took  longer  steps  than  mine. 

It  can  be  regarded  in  no  other  way  than  as  a  calamity. 


30  COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

There  is  no  other  reason  for  his  going  than  this. 

Pupil. — I  fear  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  diagram 
mine.  Does  the  construction  mean  *Hhan  my  steps 
were''? 

Teacher. — Yes;  but  you  may  diagram  mine  as  in 
the  nominative  case, — the  subject  of  the  verb  were 
understood. 

Pupil. — But  mine  is  possessive  in  form. 

Teacher. — That  is  true,  but  the  forms  mine,  thine, 
ours,  yours,  theirs  and  sometimes  his  and  hers,  though 
possessive  in  form  have  come  to  be  used  only  in  the 
nominative  and  objective  cases. 

Pupil. — How  should  mine  be  parsed? 

Teacher. — Mine  is  a  personal  pronoun,  first  person, 
singular  number,  nominative  case,  subject  of  the  verb 
were. 

Pupil. — ^But  how  can  mine  be  in  the  singular  number, 
and  its  verb,  in  the  plural? 

Teacher. — Grammarians  hardly  know  what  to  do  in 
cases  of  this  kind,  for  mine  refers  to  one  person  the  same 
in  the  sentence  **His  steps  were  longer  than  mine'*  as  it 
does  in  the  sentence,  **This  hat  is  mine,*'  It  would 
probably  be  best  to  say  **  singular  number,  but  used  for 
the  time  being  in  the  plural.''  We  have  a  like  difficulty 
in  parsing  You,  in  the  sentence,  **You  are  my  pupil." 
Now  you  refers  to  only  one  person,  and  yet  it  is  the  sub- 
ject of  a  plural  verb.  It  is  also  true  that,  in  the  sentence, 
**Your  steps  are  longer  than  mine,"  mine  refers  to  but 
one  person,  and,  hence,  is  virtually  singular. 


GOLDEN  HELPS  NUMBER  VI 

The  Adjective  and  the  Adverb  After  Verbs  of  Inaction:  How 

to  Use  Them. 

Pupil. — I  know  that  the  adjective  is  required  after 
verbs  of  inaction,  when  the  reference  is  to  the  condition 
of  the  subject,  as,  **feel  or  look  sad,  glad/'  but  there  are 
some  peculiar  constructions  that  trouble  me.  I  have  made 
out  a  list  of  them : 

1.  I  always  feel  warmly  at  such  a  time. 

2.  I  always  feel  warmly  on  this  subject. 

3.  His  friends  looked  coldly  on  him. 

4.  We  were  sitting  quietly  around  the  fire. 

5.  He  sat  silently  until  she  breathed  more  calmly. 

6.  She  looked  coldly  on  his  offer  of  marriage. 

7.  Don't  feel  so  hadly  about  it. 

Are  these  sentences  correct,  and  are  Nos.  1,  2,  and  3 
parallel?    Are  4  and  5  parallel? 

Teacher. — So  far  as  the-  grammatical  construction  is 
concerned,  the  first  three  sentences  are  parallelisms ;  but, 
while  one  would  say,  *^I  feel  warmly  on  the  subject,''  just 
as  one  would  say,  **I  feel  deeply  on  the  subject,  one  would 
hardly  say,  **I  feel  warmly  at  such  a  time,^^  In  other 
words,  warmly  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  meaning  to  be 
conveyed.  One  might  say,  *^I  feel  deeply  at  such  a 
time,"  meaning  that  my  feelings  are  deeply  aroused  on 

31 


32  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

such  occasions.  The  rule  that  governs  constructions  of 
this  kind  is  as  follows : 

Kule. — ^When  action  is  expressed  by  the  verb,  the 
adverb  is  required;  when  action  is  not  expressed, — the 
verb  being  used  in  the  sense  of  be  {am,  was,  is,  etc.),  the 
adjective  is  required.  The  following  comparatives  are 
illustrative  of  the  rules  involved: 

**I  always  feel  warm  in  the  summer.''    (I  am  warm.) 

*^I  always  feel  deeply  (intensely)  at  such  a  time;''  or, 
**I  always  feel  warmly  (deeply,  intensely)  on  the  subject 
of  religion,"  action  being  expressed  by  the  verb  feel. 

Note  that  one  would  not  say,  **I  am  warm  on  the  sub- 
ject of  religion;"  on  the  other  hand,  **I  am  enthusiastic 
on  the  subject,"  or  ^^I  feel  enthusiastic  on  the  subjject," 
is  correct. 

*'The  water  looks  deep.''  (Is  deep.) 

*^He  feels  deeply  on  the  subject."  (Feels  to  a  deep 
degree.) 

*  *  He  feels  awkward  in  company. "   (Is  awkward. ) 

*^He  felt  awkwardly  in  his  pockets  for  his  ticket." 
(Felt  in  an  awkward  manner.) 

**The  air  feels  keen."  (The  air  is  not  doing  the 
feeling.) 

*^He  felt  the  disgrace  keenly."  (Felt  it  in  a  keen 
manner.) 

In  many  instances,  only  the  adjectival  form  of  a  word 
can  be  used, — not  its  adverbial.  Thus : 

''I  feel  sorry  about  this."  (Happy,  sad,  glad,  angry, 
grateful,  enthusiastic.) 

3.    ^^His  friends  looked  coldly  upon  him,"  is  correct. 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  33 

Compare  with,  ^^His  friends  looked  suspiciously  at  him.'' 
Note  the  following : 

*^He  looks  cold,''  (Appears  to  be,  or  is  cold.) 

**He  looked  coldly  at  her."  (Looked  at  her  in  a  cold 
manner.) 

^*He  looks  suspicious,''  (Appears  to  be  an  object  of 
suspicion.) 

'^He  looked  at  her  suspiciously,"  (Looked  in  a  sus- 
picious manner.) 

4.  **We  were  sitting  quietly  around  the  fire,''  is  cor- 
rect, if  the  meaning  is,  making  no  movements  of  the  body. 
Quiet  is  required  when  the  reference  is  to  the  person ;  as, 
**He  sat  quiet  or  silent  until  the  speaker  had  finished." 

5.  ''He  sat  silent,"  not  silently,  is  correct,  because 
the  subject  Tie  is  modified.  (He  was  silent,)  Note  that 
while  one  may  sit  quietly,  one  cannot  sit  silently,  as 
silently  means  without  speaking. 

6.  The  application  of  same  principle  as  in  No.  3. 

7.  'Neither  *'feel  badly"  nor  *'feel  bad"  is  in  accord- 
ance with  the  genius  of  our  language ;  but,  because  of  the 
universal  employment  of  had  in  the  sense  of  ill,  ''feel 
had"  may  be  sanctioned.  When  used,  however,  ly  should 
not  be  added,  for  it  is  the  subject,  and  not  the  verb  that 
is  modified.  Note  that  the  feeling  is  not  done  in  a  had 
manner. 

Pupil. — How  about  "The  sun  shines  hrightf"  Is  it 
hright  or  hrightly? 

Teacher. — Some  authorities  distinguish  as  follows: 
Use  hright  when  shine  is  construed  as  meaning  is;  use 
hrightly  when  shine  is  regarded  as  expressing  action; 
thus:  "The  sun  shines  hright"  (is  bright);  "The  sun 


34  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

shines  brightly  (in  a  bright  manner).  Brightly  would 
be  obligatory  in  the  following ;  *  *  The  sun  shines  brightly 
on  the  hill-tops/' 

Adverb  or  Adverbial  Phrase  After  the  Verb  To  Be. 

Pupil. — There  is  another  point  about  which  I  wish  to 
speak.  Grammarians  tell  us  that  the  verb  to  be  can  not 
take  a  modifier.  If  the  verb  to  be  can  not  take  a  modifier, 
what  shall  we  do  with  the  adverb  or  adverbial  phrase 
in  such  constructions  as,  **He  is  here;''  **I  was  there;'' 
**He  is  in  the  wrong;"  **He  was  here  last  week" 9 

Teacher. — The  adverb  that  follows  the  verb  to  be  in 
sentences  of  this  kind,  is  construed  as  a  predicate  comple- 
ment ;  that  is,  as  an  adjective  or  adjective  phrase  in  the 
predicate  referring  to  the  subject  noun  or  pronoun  and 
modifying  it. 

Pupil. — Then,  in  the  sentence,  **He  is  here,"  here 
must  be  regarded  as  the  predicate  complement,  •  and  so 
must  be  parsed  as  an  adverb  used,  for  the  time  being,  as 
an  adjective  modifier  of  the  subject  he.  That  seems  to  be 
a  queer  disposition  of  the  adverb  here. 

Teacher. — It  is ;  but  you  can  see  wherein  the  difficulty 
lies.  If  we  concede  that  the  verb  to  be,  when  not  used  as 
an  auxiliary,  is  a  mere  copula,  or  '*  joiner,"  how  can  we 
regard  it  as  being  modified  as  are  verbs  that  are  used  not 
merely  to  connect  or  to  assist  in  expressing  a  state  or  con- 
dition of  the  subject?  You  can  readily  see  the  dilemma 
that  grammarians  are  in,  and  why  a  special  disposition 
must  be  made  of  adverbs  that  follow  the  verb  to  be. 

Pupil. — Then  we  are  to  parse  here  as  an  adverb,  used, 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  35 

for  the  time  being,  as  an  adjective  modifier  of  the  subject 
he,  in  the  sentence,  **He  is  here/'  Of  course,  there  must 
be  disposed  of  in  the  same  way  in  the  sentence,  *^He  is 
there;"  and,  in  the  sentence,  *^He  is  in  the  wrong,*'  the 
phrase  in  the  wrong  must  be  parsed  as  an  adjective 
phrase  and  modifier  of  the  subject  he.  But  what  shall  I 
do  with  the  words  last  week,  in  the  sentence,  **He  was 
here  last  weeWl  Of  course  here  is  the  predicate  comple- 
ment— the  equivalent  of  an  adjective,  and  modifies  the 
subject  he, — ^but  last  week — I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to 
dispose  of  these  words. 

Teacher. — A  preposition  is  understood  before  the 
words  last  week;  as,  ^^He  was  here  during  last  week.'* 
Now,  can  you  parse  this  phrase  as  well  as  the  adverb 

Pupil. — Here  is  an  adverb  of  place,  and  during  last 
week  is  an  adverbial  phrase  of  time.  They  seem  to  have 
the  same  grammatical  relation  to  the  subject,  and  I  sup- 
pose that  they  should  both  be  parsed  as  the  equivalent  of 
adjective  modifiers  of  the  subject;  that  is,  for  the  time 
being.  Is  the  rule :  ^^The  verb  to  he  can  not  take  a  modi- 
fier," applicable  in  all  instances! 

Teacher. — Yes ;  it  is  uniform  in  its  application. 

Now  give  me  sentences  in  which  the  verb  to  &e  is  fol- 
lowed by  an  adverb  that  must  be  construed,  for  the  time 
being,  as  an  adjective. 

Pupil. — *^He  is  away;"  *^He  is  in" 

Teacher. — That  is  right.  Now  give  me  sentences  in 
which  the  verb  to  &6  is  followed  by  an  adverbial  phrase 
that  is  used,  for  the  time  being,  as  an  adjective  phrase. 

Pupil. — **He  is  in  the  next  room;"  ^*She  was  on  the 


36  COREECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

other  side  of  the  street;^'  ^'She  will  be  in  the  city  to- 
morrow," 

But  what  shall  I  do  with  **on  the  other  side  of  the 
street  "1  *  *  On  the  other  side ' '  is,  I  suppose,  the  predicate 
complement, — the  adjective  modifier  of  the  subject;  but 
what  about  **of  the  street'^? 

Teacher. — It  is  a  pure  adjective  phrase  and  modifies 
the  noun  side. 

Pupil. — ^What  about  the  adverb  to-morroiv  in  the  sen- 
tence, *^She  will  be  in  the  city  to-morrow"?  Of  course, 
^4n  the  city''  is  the  predicate  complement,  and  so  is  an 
adjective  modifier  of  she,  but  to-morrow, — isn't  to- 
morrow an  adverb? 

Teacher. — It  is  both  an  adverb  and  a  noun.  In  your 
sentence,  you  can  parse  it  as  adverb  used  as  an  adjective, 
or  you  can  parse  it  as  a  noun  with  a  preposition  before  it 
understood;  as,  **She  will  be  in  the  city  on  to-morrow;" 
the  phrase  **on  to-morrow"  can  then  be  parsed  as  an 
adverbial  phrase  used  for  the  time  being  as  an  adjective 
phrase  and  modifier  of  the  subject. 

Pupil. — ^Why  can  I  not  make  it  an  adverbial  phrase 
modifying  the  meaning  of  the  verb  will  he  and  the  com- 
plement *  ^  in  the  city  "  ? 

Teacher. — It  seems  as  if  it  should  be  so  construed; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  two  phrases  are  really  in  the 
same  grammatical  relation  to  the  subject.  This  you  can 
see  by  substituting  the  verb  go  for  the  v.erb  mil  he  and  by 
changing  the  preposition  in  to  the  preposition  to;  thus: 
**She  will  go  to  the  city  to-morrow."  You  can  see  that 
the  adverbial  phrases,  or  the  adverbial  phrase  and  the 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  37 

adverb,  each  modify  the  verb  go;  in  other  words,  they  are 
of  the  same  grammatical  construction. 

Pupil. — Now,  if  a  real  adjective  follows  the  verb  as  in 
the  sentence,  **I  was  happy  once,"  what  shall  I  do  with 
the  adverb  once? 

Teacher. — Some  grammarians  would  dispose  of  once 
by  making  it  an  adverbial  modifier  of  the  meaning 
expressed  by  the  verb  and  the  predicate  complement 
(adjective)  happy. 

Pupil. — I  should  think  that  once  could  be  parsed  as  a 
predicate  complement  having  the  same  relation  to  the 
subject  /  as  the  predicate  complement  happy  has. 

Teacher. — Possibly,  some  grammarians  would  so  con- 
strue the  adverb ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  when  an '  *  adjec- 
tive proper''  follows  the  verb,  and  is  thus  the  true  com- 
plement, it  would  be  better  to  dispose  of  the  adverb 
as  suggested ;  namely,  to  make  it  modify  the  meaning  of 
the  predicate  verb  and  the  complement.  By  so  doing,  we 
can  discriminate  between  the  ** adjective  proper''  and  the 
adverb  used,  for  the  time  being,  as  an  adjective.  In  other 
words,  when  possible,  let  us  not  change  the  construction 
of  the  adverb,  but  let  it  modify  the  predicate  verb  and  the 
complement  rather  than  to  think  of  it  as  an  equivalent  of 
the  true  adjective  in  such  constructions  as  **I  was  happy 
once." 

Pupil. — I  think  that  I  follow  the  drift  of  your  thoughts. 
In  the  sentence,  *^He  is  happy,"  happy  is  the  predicate 
complement  and  is  a  true  adjective, — adjective  modifier 
of  the  subject  he.  In  the  sentence,  **I  was  happy  once,^^ 
once  is  an  adverb  and  modifies  the  meaning  of  was  happy. 


38  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

In  the  sentence,  ^^He  is  there/'  there  is  an  adverb  and  is 
regarded  only  for  the  time  being  as  an  adjective  modifier 
of  the  subject.  In  the  sentence,  **She  will  be  in  the  city 
to-morrow, ' '  the  adverbs  have  the  same  grammatical  rela- 
tion to  the  subject  as  do  the  adverbs  to  the  verbs  in  the 
sentence,  **She  will  go  to  the  city  to-morrow." 

In  many  of  our  text-books  I  find  no  reference  whatever 
to  this  subject. 

Teacher. — It  is  not  an  easy  subject  for  one  to  discuss, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  logical  as  to  the  disposition  of 
all  the  elements.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  disposition  of 
the  words  and  phrases  that  follow  the  verb  to  be  when 
that  verb  is  a  mere  copula. 

Now,  you  may  analyze  the  sentence,  **In  the  lexicon 
of  youth,  there  is  no  such  word  as  fail.'' 

Pupil. — *^In  the  lexicon  of  youth,"  etc.,  is  a  complex 
sentence,  of  which  *^In  the  lexicon  of  youth,  there  is  no 
such  word"  is  the  principal  clause,  and  **as  fail  (is  such 
a  word)"  is  the  subordinate  clause. 

Of  the  principal  clause,  word  is  the  real  subject,  modi- 
fied by  the  adjective  modifiers  no  and  such;  there  is  an 
adverb,  used,  for  the  time  being,  as  a  mere  expletive  or 
introductory  word ;  is  is  the  predicate  verb ;  in  the  lexicon 
of  youth  is  the  predicate  complement  (phrase  used  as  an 
adjective  modifier  of  the  subject  word) ;  as  is  a  subordi- 
nate conjunction,  used  to  connect  the  subordinate  clause 
with  the  principal  clause;  fail  is  the  subject  of  the  sub- 
ordinate clause;  is  (understood)  is  the  predicate  verb; 
word  (understood)  is  the  predicate  complement  modified 
by  such  and  a  (understood). 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  39 

Teacher. — The  construction  could  be  expanded  so  as  to 
make  as  a  relative  pronoun;  as,  **In  the  lexicon  of  youth, 
there  is  no  such  word  as  is  fail.''  As  would  then  be  the 
predicate  complement ;  fail  would  be  the  subject ;  and  is 
the  predicate  verb.  In  fact,  after  such  and  same,  it  is 
customary  to  parse  as  as  a  relative  pronoun. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  VII 

If  It  Is  and  If  It  Be;  It  It  Was  and  If  It  Were:  How  to  Use 

Them. 

Pupil. — Do  I  understand  that  when  a  supposition  is 
merely  ^*  thought  of — that  is,  when  it  is  subjunctive — 
we  are  to  say,  ''li  I  be/'  ''U  it  be/'  *^If  he  be/'  **If  he 
see/'  and  other  like  forms? 

Teacher. — I  am  pleased  to  have  you  ask  this  question, 
for  it  is  one  that  perplexes  all  students  of  English  and 
many  teachers  as  well.  The  special  forms  to  which  you 
refer  are  passing  into  disuse ;  thus,  instead  of  the  present 
subjunctive  forms:  **If  I  be/'  *^If  you  be/'  **If  he  be/' 
**If  we  &e/'  *^If  they  be/'  and,  in  the  case  of  other  verbs, 
**If  he  find/'  *^If  it  rain/'  etc.,  the  indicative  forms  are 
being  very  generally  employed. 

Pupil. — Then  it  is  correct  to  say:  *^If  I  am/'  *^If  you 
are/'  ''U  he  is/'  ''li  we  are/'  ''li  they  are/'  ''If  he 
finds/'  ''If  it  rains/'  etc.,  even  when  the  supposition  is 
stated,  not  as  a  fact,  but  as  merely  ** thought  of." 

Teacher. — That  is  right. 

Pupil. — Eecently,  when  reading  a  novel  entitled,  **Eed 
Pottage,''  I  noticed  this  construction:  *^It  was  an  even 
chance,''  etc.,  '*but  if  it  is  he." 

Teacher. — In  the  sentence  to  which  you  refer,  the  sup- 
position expresses  doubt  and  hence  is  subjunctive.  But, 
as  I  have  indicated,  inasmuch  as  the  subjunctive  form  **If 

40 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  41 

it  &e/'  is  now  rarely  employed  even  by  the  best  speakers, 
it  is  no  longer  obligatory  to  use  the  form  '^liitbe/'  On 
the  other  hand,  the  subjunctive  forms  *^If  I  were/^  and 
**If  he,  she,  or  it,  were/'  are  employed  by  the  best  speak- 
ers and  writers.  To  say,  **If  I  was  going  to  Europe,  I 
should  study  French, '^  would  be  incorrect,  **If  I  were/' 
etc.,  being  the  correct  form.  To  exemplify  the  construc- 
tion further,  we  say  **If  I  was  in  the  wrong  (indicative 
mode,  meaning  I  was  in  the  wrong),  why,  I  apologize.'^ 
*^If  I  ivere  in  the  wrong  (subjunctive  mode,  meaning  I  am 
not),  I  should  be  willing  to  apologize.''  This  distinction 
in  the  use  of  the  subjunctive  and  the  indicative  mode  is 
made  by  the  best  speakers,  while  *^If  it  is''  is  now  used 
for  both  the  indicative  and  the  subjunctive  form.  You 
can  readily  see  that,  inasmuch  as  ^^If  it  be  he''  is  not 
employed  or  is  now  rarely  employed,  even  by  the  best 
speakers,  and  that  '* If  it  is  he"  was  used  in  a  soliloquy 
in  the  extract  to  which  you  refer,  it  would  be  incorrect  to 
insist  upon  the  employment  of  ^^If  it  be/'  even  though 
the  subjunctive  form  might  be  expected. 

Pupil. — Does  not  the  subjunctive  present  tense  some- 
times indicate  future  time? 

Teacher. — Yes;  the  present  tense  of  the  subjunctive 
mode  may  refer  to  either  present  or  future  time.  The 
past  tense  of  this  mode  refers  to  present  time ;  the  past 
perfect  to  past  time.  I  will  write  some  examples  on  the 
blackboard : 

If  it  be  he,  I  shall  speak  to  him.  (I  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  he.) 

If  it  were  he,  I  should  speak  to  him.  (It  is  not  he, 
therefore  I  shall  not  speak  to  him.) 


42  COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

If  it  had  been  he,  I  should  have  spoken  to  him.  (It 
was  not  he,  therefore  I  did  not  speak  to  him.) 

Now,  in  connection  with  the  last  sentence,  note  that 
the  principal  clause,  **I  should  not  have  spoken  to  him,'* 
also  takes  the  subjunctive  form,  the  rule  being  that  the 
principal  clause  in  a  conditional  statement  takes  the  sub- 
junctive form  when  it  refers  either  to  what  is  future  and 
contingent  or  to  what  is  past  and  uncertain,  or  denied. 

In  connection  with  the  future  tense  form  should,  of 
the  subjunctive  mode,  note  that  it  is  interchangeable  in 
its  use  with  the  present  tense  of  the  subjunctive  mode 
when  the  latter  refers  to  future  time.  Thus,  if  one  pre- 
fers to  use  the  subjunctive  mode  to  express  doubt  or 
uncertainty,  one  may  say,  **If  this  he  in  accordance  with 
your  approval,"  etc.,  or  **If  this  should  be  in  accordance 
with  your  approval." 

Pupil. — I  think  that  the  so-called  future  perfect  tense 
of  the  subjunctive  mode  is  very  confusing;  for  example, 
'^I  should  go  to  Europe  if  I  had  the  money,"  is  a  con- 
struction that  conveys  the  idea  of  contingent  futurity; 
but  the  future  perfect  tense  as  in  the  sentence,  *  *  I  should 
have  gone  to  Europe  if  I  had  had  the  money,"  seems  to 
me  to  convey,  not  future  perfect,  but  past  perfect  tense= 

Teacher. — It  does  in  a  sense,  for  it  expresses  what  one 
would  have  done  in  the  past,  had  one  been  able  to  perform 
the  action. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  VIII 

Is  Come  and  Has  Come;  Is  Gone  and  Has  Gone. 

Pupil. — I  have  trouble  in  disposing  of  the  participle  in 
such  constructions  as,  *^The  box  is  come/'  **The  teacher 
is  gone/'  Now,  of  course,  I  know  what  to  do  with  the 
participle  when  has  is  used, — ^^The  box  has  come/'  '^The 
teacher  has  gone/'  for  come  and  gone  are  the  principal 
verbs,  and  has  is,  in  each  sentence,  the  auxiliary; — but 
''is  come"  and  ''is  gone,''  what  shall  I  do  with  these 
forms  % 

Teacher. — I  must  let  you  tell  me. 

Pupil. — But  I  don't  know  about  these  constructions. 
Now,  if  the  verb  were  transitive,  as,  **The  teacher  is 
loved  by  her  pupils,"  I  should  know,  of  course,  that  loved 
is  the  principal  verb  and  that  is  is  the  auxiliary,  for  the 
verb  love  is  in  the  present  tense  and  the  passive  voice, 
the  noun  teacher  being  the  receiver  of  the  action, — but 
"is  come"  and  "is  gone," — I  can  not  tell  how  to  dispose 
of  these  forms. 

Teacher. — What  kind  of  verbs  are  go  and  come? 

Pupil. — Intransitive. 

Teacher. — Are  they  in  the  passive  voice? 

Pupil. — No;  because  intransitive  verbs  do  not  have 
voice. 

Teacher. — Why  do  they  not  have  voice? 

43 


44  COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Pupil.— Because,  while  they  express  action,  they  do 
not  express  action  that  is  received  by  any  thing. 

Teacher. — That  is;  in  the  sentence,  **The  teacher  is 
loved/'  the  noun  teacher  receives  the  action  of  the  verb, 
and,  hence,  is  in  the  passive  voice;  whereas,  in  the  sen- 
tence, **The  teacher  is  gone/'  the  noun  teacher  does  not 
receive  the  action  of  the  verb,  and,  hence,  is  not  in  the 
passive  voice.  In  fact,  it  has  no  voice  at  all,  because  it  is 
an  intransitive  verb. 

In  the  sentence,  **The  teacher  is  loved,''  what  is  loved 
and  what  is  is  f 

Pupil. — Loved  is  the  past  participle  of  the  verb  love 
and  is  used  as  the  principal  verb ;  is  is  the  auxiliary. 

Teacher. — Now,  whenever  the  past  participle  of  a 
transitive  verb  is  used  transitively  and  is  preceded  by 
the  auxiliary  *4s,"  the  two  form  what  kind  of  verb? 

Pupil. — A  verb  in  the  passive  voice. 

Teacher. — Now  conjugate  love,  present  tense,  active 
and  passive. 

Pupil. — *^I  love,"  '^you  love,''  *'he  loves," — active, 
present ;  *  ^  I  am  loved, "  *  ^  you  are  loved, "  *  *  he  is  loved, ' ' 
— passive,  present ;  same  in  the  plural. 

Teacher. — Now,  conjugate  come  and  gone,  in  the  pres- 
ent tense. 

Pupil. — Active,  ^^I  come,"  ''you  come,"  ''he  comes;" 
same  in  the  plural.  Passive,  "I  am  come," — but  I  recol- 
lect,— come  and  gone  are  intransitive  and  so  can  not 
be  conjugated  in  the  passive  voice. 

Teacher. — Then  if  they  can  not,  what  shall  we  do  with 
is  1  It  is  evident  that  it  is  not  an  auxiliary,  for  if  it  were, 
it  would  form  with  the  participle,  a  transitive  verb  in  the 
passive  voice. 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  45 

Pupil. — Why,  we  must  call  is,  in  each  sentence,  the 
principal  verb. 

Teacher. — And  what  shall  we  do  with  the  participles 
gone  and  cornel 

Pupil. — Why,  if  is  is  the  principal  verb,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  construe  the  participle  as  the  predicate  com- 
plement.   That  seems  strange. 

Teacher. — ^Yes;  but  grammatically,  that  is  what  we 
must  do,  unless  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  we  dispose 
of  ^4s  gone''  and  *4s  come''  as  intransitive  verb  phrases, 
having  the  appearance  of  intransitive  passives. 

Pupil. — I  should  think  that  such  forms  as  ^Hs  gone" 
and  '^is  come"  would  be  regarded  as  incorrect.  Why  not 
say,  ^^has  gone"  and  '^has  come"? 

Teacher. — We  do  use  these  forms,  but^^is  gone"  and 
*^is  come,"  and  like  constructions,  are  the  remains  of 
the  regular  formation  of  the  perfect  tense  of  the  intransi- 
tive verb  by  the  assistance  of  the  verb  **to  be."  Bain 
suggests  that,  inasmuch  as  have  originally  belonged  only 
to  transitive  verbs  and  that  as  we  have  the  two  construc- 
tions has  and  is,  it  would  be  well  to  restrict  have  to  uses 
where  there  is  an  active  subject,  and  is  where  there  is  an 
inanimate  subject;  thus:  ^*The  teacher  has  come;"  but, 
*^The  box  is  come." 

According  to  some  grammarians,  the  participle  in  such 
constructions  as  *4s  gone"  and  *4s  come"  would  be  con- 
strued as  the  predicate  complement,  the  equivalent  of  an 
adjective  in  the  predicate,  used  as  a  modifier  of  the 
subject.* 


^Correct  English:   a  Complete  Grammar,  p.  64,  note. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  IX 

Progressive  Active  and  Passive  Forms:  How  to  Understand 

Them. 

Pupil. — I  never  in  the  world  can  understand  all  about 
tenses ;  at  least,  I  cannot  understand  about  them  from  a 
study  of  our  text-book. 

Teacher. — I  fear  you  are  like  the  woman  that  always 
had  bad  neighbors,  and  in  consequence  felt  obliged  to 
move  every  year.  You  seem  to  have  trouble  with  all  your 
text-books,  and  especially  with  your  grammar.  You  might 
study  the  conjugation  of  the  verb  see  in  Cokkect  English, 
and  thus  familiarize  yourself  with  all  simple  and  progres- 
sive tense  forms  of  this  verb. 

Pupil. — Yes ;  but  there  are  so  many  tenses  that  they 
confuse  me. 

Teacher. — A  very  simple  way  to  study  the  subject  is 
as  follows:  (1)  There  are  three  main  tenses,  called 
primary  tenses,  namely,  present,  past,  future;  thus :  pres- 
ent, **I  see;"  past,  **I  saw;''  future,  **I  shall  see."  (2) 
These  primary  tenses  have  each  a  completed  form  called 
the  perfect  tense,  namely,  present  perfect,  past  perfect, 
future  perfect;  thus:  present  perfect,  **I  have  seen"  (ac- 
tion completed  up  to  the  present  time) ;  past  perfect,  **I 
had  seen"  (action  completed  up  to  past  time) ;  future  per- 
fect, '*I  shall  have  seen"  (action  completed  up  to  future 
time). 

46 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  47 

Pupil. — Either  have  or  had  seems  to  be  used  in  all  the 
perfect  tense  forms,  but  omitted  in  all  the  simple  or  pri- 
mary tense  forms. 

Teacher. — Yes;  but  in  the  third  person,  singular,  of 
the  present  perfect  tense  you  will  note  that  has  is 
required;  thus:  ^*I  have  seen,''  **You  have  seen,''  **He 
(or  she)  has  seen." 

Pupil. — I  note  that  you  gave  ^^You  have  seen,"  for 
the  second  person  singular.  I  thought  that  ^^Thou  hast 
seen"  was  the  correct  form. 

Teacher. — Yes;  in  poetry  and  in  occasional  utter- 
ances ;  but,  inasmuch  as  you  is  required  for  the  singular 
as  well  as  for  the  plural  number,  I  think  that  we  should 
really  conjugate  the  verb  in  this  way. 

Pupil. — Then  have  or  has  is  always  used  in  the  pres- 
ent and  future  perfect  tense  forms,  and  had  in  the 
past  perfect  tense  forms. 

Teacher. — Yes ;  or  you  can  remember  the  very  simple 
rule:  Use  have,  has  or  had  with  the  participle,  and 
remember  that  these  words  must  not  be  used  with  words 
spelled  with  a.  Thus :  I  began ;  I  have  begun.  I  drank ; 
I  have  drunk.  I  sang ;  I  have  sung.  I  came ;  I  have  come. 

Pupil. — ^In  other  words,  the  two  a's  must  never  be 
used  together. 

Teacher. — Yes;  now  let  us  discuss  the  progressive 
tense  forms :  (3)  Each  tense  has  a  progressive  form ;  or, 
as  we  may  say,  a  continuous  form,  showing  that  the 
action,  or  state  is  in  progress,  or  is  continuous;  as,  ^^I 
am  seeing/' 

Pupil. — Do  I  understand  you  to  mean  that  every; 


48  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

tense  form  whether  primary  or  perfect  has  a  progressive, 
or  continuous  form? 

Teacher. — Yes ;  that  is,  every  tense  form  in  the  active 
voice;  thus:  the  primary  present  tense,  *^I  see,''  becomes 
the  progressive  present  tense,  **I  am  seeing;"  the  pri- 
mary pasty  **I  saw,''  becomes  the  progressive  past,  **I 
was  seeing;"  the  primary  future,  ^'1  shall  see,"  becomes 
the  progressive  future,  **I  shall  be  seeing."  Now,  can 
you  give  the  progressive  tense  forms  of  the  perfect  tense  ? 

Pupil. — The  present  perfect  tense,  **I  have  seen,"  be- 
comes the  present  perfect  progressive,  '^1  have  been  see- 
ing;" the  past  perfect  tense,  *^I  had  seen,"  becomes  the 
past  perfect  progressive,  ^*I  had  been  seeing ;"  the  future 
perfect  tense,  **I  shall  have  seen,"  becomes  the  future 
perfect  progressive,  **I  shall  have  been  seeing." 

Pupil. — The  examples  that  you  have  been  giving  are 
all  in  the  active  voice ;  that  is,  the  action  is  not  performed 
on  the  subject.  Now,  when  the  verb  is  in  the  passive 
voice,  that  is,  when  the  subject  is  being  acted  upon,  can 
all  the  tenses  take  a  progressive  tense  form? 

Teacher. — No ;  only  the  present  and  the  past  tense  in 
the  passive  voice  have  a  progressive  form;  thus:  ^*I  am 
being  seen,"  and  '*I  was  being  seen,"  etc. 

Pupil. — I  know  that  there  has  been,  and  is,  more  or 
less  controversy  relative  to  the  progressive  form  being 
when  used  in  constructions  of  this  kind.  Why  do  some 
critics  object  to  such  constructions  as,  **The  house  is 
heing  built,"  '*I  am  heing  seen,"  and  like  sentences? 

Teacher. — Mainly,  because  it  is  only  in  the  present 
and  past  tenses  that  the  progressive  form  can  be  used; 
that  is,  when  the  verb  is  in  the  passive  voice.    Critics  say 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELr>S  49 

that  it  is  an  innovation  not  based  on  the  grammar  of  our 
language;  but  it  has  been  clearly  shown  that  these  con- 
structions have  been  in  accordance  with  the  best  usage  of 
the  language  for  a  century.  Before  their  introduction 
into  our  language,  there  was  no  tense  form  that  discrimi- 
nated between  an  ^^ activity^'  from  without  and  one  from 
within  unless  the  letter  **a''  might  be  said  to  indicate  this 
difference.  Thus,  even  in  Anglo-Saxon,  the  sentence, 
^^The  house  was  a  building,"  did  not  correspond  to  our 
present  construction,  ^*The  house  was  being  built.''  The 
use  of  these  present  and  past  progressive  tense  forms  has 
greatly  increased  the  versatility  of  our  language,  for  it 
has  enabled  us  to  indicate  action  from  without  as  differ- 
ent from  action  from  within;  thus:  the  simple  present 
tense  form  in  the  active  voice  as  in  the  sentence  **The  dog 
is  shooting, ' '  or  the  simple  present  tense  form  in  the  pas- 
sive voice  '  *  The  dog  is  shot, ' '  certainly  cannot  express  the 
idea  of  present  progressive  passive  action  as  in  the  sen- 
tence ^^Tlie  dog  is  being  shot.'' 

Pupil. — Then  we  are  to  regard  these  constructions  as 
correct,  and  in  accordance  with  modern  grammar. 

Teacher. — Certainly.  The  critics  who  object  to  this 
*  innovation"  as  unwarranted,  have  no  form  that  they 
can  substitute  for  this  construction.  The  present  and 
past  progressive  uses  in  the  passive  voice  have  become 
grammatical  and  are  so  recorded  in  our  authoritative 
text-books  on  English. 

Standard  Dictionary,  in  its  supplement,  sanctions  this 
construction,  and  quotes  from  Fitzedward  Hall  as  fol- 
lows: 

*^ Prior  to  the  evolution  of  is  being  built,  and  was 


50  CORRjecl?  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

being  built,  we  possessed  no  discriminate  equivalents  of 
aedificatur  and  aedificabatur ;  is  built  and  was  built,  by 
which  they  were  rendered,  corresponding  exactly  to 
aedificatus  est  and  aedificatus  eratJ' 

Pupil. — I  am  glad  that  we  have  had  this  discussion, 
for  I  was  aware  that  such  critics  as  Eichard  Whately, 
George  P.  Marsh,  and  Eichard  Grant  White  had  objected 
greatly  to  this  construction;  but  I  know  now  that  their 
criticisms  are  unwarranted. 

Teacher. — That  is  so ;  for  you  can  readily  see  that  the 
grammar  of  our  language  and  the  best  usage  of  the  best 
writers  and  speakers  must  be  in  accordance  with  each 
other;  or  what  better  expresses  the  thought,  the  gram- 
mar of  our  language  is  in  reality  based  upon  its  best 
usage. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  X 

The  Noun  Clause  and  the  Relative  Clause :  How  to  Distinguish 

Them. 

Pupil. — I  have  difficulty  in  determining  when  that 
is  a  relative  pronoun,  and  when  it  is  a  conjunction.  In 
one  of  the  exercises  that  I  sent  in  a  few  days  since,  I 
diagrammed  that  as  a  relative  pronoun  in  the  sentence, 
*  ^  I  know  that  he  is  the  man, ' '  and  when  my  papers  were 
returned,  I  found  that  you  had  marked  that  as  a  con- 
junction. Now,  why  is  that  a  conjunction  in  the  sen- 
tence, **I  know  that  he  is  the  man,"  and  a  relative  pro- 
noun in  the  sentence,  ^*I  know  the  man  that  called  here 
yesterday"? 

Teacher. — A  relative  pronoun  is  always  used  as  a 
pronoun  and  a  conjunction  at  the  same  time.  The  con- 
junction is  used  merely  as  a  connective.  Thus,  in  the 
sentence,  *^I  know  the  man  that  called  here  yesterday," 
that  is  a  relative  pronoun,  because  it  relates  to  an  ante- 
cedent (man).  In  the  sentence,  **I  know  that  he  is  the 
man,"  that  is  used  as  a  conjunction  to  connect  the  noun 
clause,  *^that  he  is  the  man,"  which  it  introduces,  with 
the  principal  clause,  **I  know  that  he  is  the  man."  In 
other  words,  that  is  construed  as  a  relative  pronoun 
only  when  it  relates  to  an  antecedent.  It  is  construed  as 
a  conjunction,  when  it  introduces  a  noun  clause  or  is 
used  in  the  sense  of  *4n  order  that,"  **for  the  purpose 

51 


52  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

that/'  'Ho  the  effect  that,"  or  to  introduce  a  reason  {in 
that,  because),  or  a  result  or  consequence  (so  that).  In 
constructions  where  the  relative  pronouns  who,  which, 
etc.,  introduce  a  noun  clause,  as  in  the  sentence,  **I  know 
whom  you  mean,''  whom  still  retains,  in  a  sense,  its  func- 
tion as  a  relative  pronoun,  for  the  reason  that  there  is 
always  an  implied  antecedent,  as,  **I  know  the  person 
whom  you  mean."  Of  course,  in  diagramming  this  con- 
struction, ''whom  you  mean"  is  diagrammed  as  a  noun 
clause,  object  of  "know."  You  is  the  subject;  do  mean 
is  the  verb ;  whom  is  the  object. 

Pupil. — I  wish  that  you  would  give  me  some  test  that 
will  enable  me  to  determine  when  a  word  is  a  pronoun, 
and  when  it  is  merely  a  conjunction. 

Teacher. — ^You  can  always  tell  the  difference  between 
a  relative  pronoun  and  a  conjunction  by  the  following 
test: 

When  the  word  in  question  is  used  both  as  a  pronoun 
and  as  a  conjunction  at  the  same  time,  it  is  a  relative 
pronoun.  When  it  is  used,  not  as  a  pronoun,  but  merely 
as  a  connective,  it  is  a  conjunction.  Now,  a  pronoun  is 
always  used  in  the  place  of  a  noun ;  and  as  a  noun  must 
always  be  either  a  subject,  an  object,  or  a  predicate  com- 
plement, the  relative  pronoun  must  always  be  used  in 
the  same  way.  In  the  sentence,  "I  know  the  man  that 
was  here  yesterday,"  note  that  that  is  used  as  the  sub- 
ject of  the  verb  was,  while  in  the  sentence,  "I  know  that 
he  is  the  man,"  that  has  the  function  only  of  a  connec- 
tive, as  it  is  used  as  neither  a  subject,  nor  an  object,  nor 
a  predicate  complement.  Now,  compare  the  following 
constructions : 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  53 

**I  fear  that  he  is  ill-/^  ^^I  am  acquainted  with  the 
man  that  ivas  here  yesterday/' 

Now,  for  a  drill,  give  ^yq  sentences  in  which  that  is 
used  as  a  conjunction,  and  five  sentences  in  which  it  is 
used  as  a  relative  pronoun.  Be  sure  to  bear  in  mind  that, 
unless  that  relates  to  an  antecedent,  and  can  be  dia- 
grammed as  the  subject,  the  object,  or  the  predicate 
complement,  it  is  not  a  relative  pronoun. 

Pupil. — Yes,  I  see.  In  the  first  sentence,  that  is  a 
conjunction,  because  it  introduces  the  noun  clause,  ^  ^  that 
he  is  ill,"  and  at  the  same  time  connects  it  with  the 
principal  clause,  *^I  fear,'*  etc.  In  the  second  sentence, 
that  is  a  relative  pronoun,  because  it  relates  to  an  ante- 
cedent man,  and  at  the  same  time  is  used  as  the  subject 
of  the  verb  was. 

DEILL. 

In  the  following  sentences,  that  is  used  as  a  con- 
junction : 

1.  I  fear  that  I  cannot  go. 

2.  I  doubt  that  he  will  come. 

3.  I  know  that  he  likes  her. 

4.  I  know  that  he  is  honest. 

5.  I  discovered  that  the  house  was  on  fire. 

In  the  following  sentences,  that  is  used  as  a  relative 
pronoun : 

1.  This  is  the  boy  that  brought  the  trunk. 

2.  This  is  the  book  that  I  borrowed. 

3.  This  is  the  man  that  called  yesterday. 

4.  It  is  I  that  am  mistaken. 

5.  It  is  she  ^/laHs  in  the  wrong. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  XI 

Concord  of  Verb  with  Antecedent  of  Relative  Pronoun:  How 
to  Determine  It. 

Pupil. — I  have  much  difficulty  in  determining  the 
number  of  the  verb  when  it  has  for  its  subject  a  relative 
pronoun.  I  am  familiar  with  the  rule, — The  verb  that 
has  for  its  subject  a  relative  pronoun  is  singular  or  plural 
according  as  its  antecedent  is  singular  or  plural ;  but  my 
trouble  is  that  I  cannot  always  determine  what  is  the 
antecedent. 

Teacher. — Let  us  cite  examples  wherein  the  verb  has 
for  its  subject  a  relative  pronoun,  and  in  this  way  we  can 
arrive  at  an  understanding  of  the  points  involved.  In 
the  sentence,  **This  is  one  of  the  best  books  that  have 
ever  been  written,"  why  is  **have  been,"  and  not  **has 
been,"  the  correct  form? 

Pupil. — Because  the  antecedent  of  the  relative  pro- 
noun that  is  the  plural  noun  hooks,  and  hence,  the  verb 
must  be  plural. 

Teacher. — And  the  rule? 

Pupil. — A  verb  that  has  for  its  subject  a  relative  pro- 
noun, is  singular  or  plural  according  as  its  antecedent 
is  singular  or  plural. 

Teacher. — Now  tell  me  why  hooJcs,  and  not  one,  is  the 
antecedent  of  the  relative  pronoun  that. 

Pupil. — Because  one  of  the  best  books  could  not  ever 

54 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  55 

have  been  written.    The  meaning  is  that  of  all  the  books 
that  have  ever  been  written,  the  one  cited  is  of  the  best. 

Teacher. — Now  in  the  sentence,  *  *  This  is  the  only  one 
of  the  books  that  is  worth  reading,"  why  is  is,  and  not 
are,  correct? 

Pnpil. — Because  the  antecedent  of  the  relative  pro- 
noun is  one. 

Teacher. — ^Why  is  it  one^  and  not  books? 

Pupil. — Because  the  meaning  is,  that  of  all  the  books, 
this  is  the  only  one  that  is  worth  reading. 

Teacher. — In  the  sentence,  ^*She  was  one  of  those 
ladies  who  were  here  yesterday,"  why  is  were  correct! 

Pupil. — Because  the  antecedent  of  who  is  ladies. 
Whenever  the  word  those  is  used,  does  it  follow  that  the 
verb  is  plural  ? 

Teacher. — No,  not  necessarily.  Of  course,  in  the  sen- 
tence, *'She  was  one  of  those  ladies  who  called  yester- 
day," it  is  evident  that  the  relative  pronoun  can  refer 
only  to  the  antecedent,  ladies,  and  not  to  one.  Thus,  the 
maid  says  to  her  mistress,  **A  lady  called  when  you  were 
away."  The  mistress  asks,  **Whol"  The  maid 
responds,  '*It  was  one  of  those  ladies  who  were  here 
yesterday."  Now,  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  assume  that 
the  maid  says  to  her  mistress,  indicating  a  group  of  ladies 
in  the  drawing  room,  **One  of  the  ladies  who  called  yes- 
terday is  here  again  to-day. ' '  The  mistress  asks,  *  *  Which 
one!"  The  maid  responds,  '*It  was  one  of  those  ladies 
in  the  corner  who  was  here  yesterday. ' ' 

Pupil. — It  does  not  seem  difficult  to  ascertain  the 
antecedent.  It  seems  necessary  only  to  get  at  the  real 
meaning.    Why,  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  have  no  difficulty 


56  COBEECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

hereafter  in  constructions  of  this  kind.  I  see,  too,  by 
the  inflection  of  your  voice  that,  when  the  emphasis  is 
especially  on  the  word  those,  as  in  the  sentence,  **It  was 
one  of  those  ladies  who  was  here  yesterday,''  the  verb 
should  be  singular.  This  determines  the  number  of  the 
verb  in  spoken  language,  but  how  can  we  decide  the 
matter  when  we  encounter  the  construction  in  literature? 

Teacher. — By  examining  the  context,  just  as  we  de- 
cided a  few  minutes  since  that  the  plural  verb  was 
required  in  such  constructions  as,  **This  is  one  of  the 
best  books  that  have  ever  been  written.'*  Take  further 
examples.  **It  is  one  of  those  libraries  which  have  been 
erected  by  Carnegie."  **It  is  one  of  those  happy  inci- 
dents which  occur  only  once  in  a  life  time."  **It  is  one 
of  those  unfortunate  accidents  which  happen  now  and 
then."  **It  was  one  of  those  novels  which  are  found  only 
in  the  libraries  of  the  cultured." 

Pupil. — Then,  in  referring  to  the  characters  in  a 
novel, — I  can  see  why  the  construction  given  in  Correct 
English  is  correct.  ''It  is  one  of  those  characters  which 
have  been  dragged  in."  It  is  evident  that,  inasmuch  as 
one  could  not  point  out  the  characters  in  the  sense  that 
one  would  point  out  the  ladies  in  the  drawing  room,  the 
reference  is  not  singular. 

Teacher. — By  amplifying  the  construction,  one  can 
readily  see  why  the  plural  verb  is  required:  Thus: 
**  Betty  Brown  was  one  of  those  characters  which  have 
been  dragged  in  by  the  author,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
a  touch  of  humor  to  the  story." 

Pupil. — After  all,  as  I  said  a  few  minutes  since,  it  is 
necessary  only  to  understand  the  real  meaning. 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  57 

Teacher. — Let  us  have  a  little  drill  on  this  point. 
You  see,  it  is  only  a  case  of  logic ;  for  you  can  arrive  at 
the  conclusion  very  readily,  if  you  will  only  stop  and 
think.  Now,  is  the  singular  or  the  plural  verb  required 
in  the  following: 

**This  is  one  of  those  problems  which  are  or  is  easily 
solved. ' ' 

**She  is  one  of  the  best  women  that  have  or  has  ever 
lived.'' 

**It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures  that  were  or 
was  ever  painted.'' 

'*He  was  one  of  those  men  who  seem  or  seems^io  find 
fault  without  any  provocation. ' ' 

Pupil. — Undoubtedly,  the  plural  verb  is  required  in 
each  construction. 

Teacher. — Now,  give  me  some  sentences  in  which  the 
singular  verb  is  required. 

Pupil. — *^This  is  the  only  one  of  the  problems  in 
arithmetic  that  seems  difficult." 

Teacher. — ^Very  good. 

Pupil. — ''She  was  the  only  woman  among  all  those 
present  who  was  able  to  give  the  correct  answer." 

'*It  was  one  of  the  beautiful  pictures  of  Millais'  that 
was  on  exhibition." 

I  am  sure  that  I  shall  never  again  have  difficulty  with 
constructions  of  this  kind,  but  I  am  not  so  confident  that 
I  shall  know  when  to  use  the  singular  and  when  the  plural 
verb  in  sentences  where  the  antecedent  is  a  personal 
pronoun. 

Teacher. — ^When  the  antecedent  of  the  relative  pro- 
noun is  a  personal  pronoun,  the  verb  agrees  with  that 


58  COERECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

antecedent  in  both  person  and  number.  Now  give  me  an 
example. 

Pupil. — '*It  is  I  wlio  speak/ ^    Is  it  speak  or  speaks? 

Teacher. — ^What  is  the  antecedent  of  who? 

Pupil.— 7. 

Teacher. — Then,  of  course,  speak,  and  not  speaks,  is 
correct.    Give  some  more  examples. 

Pupil. — **It  is  I  who  am  to  blame." 

**It  is  you  who  are  in  the  wrong." 

*'It  is  he  who  is  at  fault." 

Teacher. — Very  good. 

Pupil. — ^When  the  relative  pronoun  has  a  compound 
antecedent  connected  by  or  or  nor,  should  not  the  verb  be 
singular  ! 

Teacher. — ^Yes,  if  both  the  nouns  or  the  pronouns  are 
singular  as  in  the  sentence :  *  *  It  is  either  he  or  she  that 
has  made  this  error." 

Pupil. — Then,  I  suppose  if  the  nouns  or  the  pronouns 
were  plural,  the  verb  would  be  plural,  as  in  the  sentence : 
'*It  is  either  we  or  they  that  have  made  this  error." 
Now,  suppose  that  only  one  of  the  nouns  is  plural,  should 
the  verb  be  plural  f 

Teacher. — Eeasoning  from  analogy,  we  find  that  the 
plural  verb  would  be  required;  and  then,  of  course,  the 
plural  noun,  and  the  pronoun  when  possible,  should 
immediately  precede  the  relative  pronoun,  as  in  the  sen- 
tences: **It  is  either  he  or  his  friends  who  have  made 
the  error;"  *'It  is  either  he  or  they  that  have  made  this 
error." 

Pupil. — ^Which  is  correct,  am  or  is,  in  the  sentence, 
**It  is  either  he  or  I  that  am  (or  is)  to  go"? 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS  59 

Teacher. — Eeasoning  from  analogy,  we  find  that  the 
sentence  should  read,  **It  is  either  he  or  I  that  am  to  go," 
for  the  reason  that,  in  the  simple  form,  the  construction 
should  read,  ^^ Either  he  or  I  am  to  go";  but  all  con- 
structions of  this  kind  are  awkward;  it  is  better  to  use 
the  compound  form,  *  *  Either  he  is  to  go,  or  I  am  to  go. ' ' 
The  construction,  **It  is  either  he  or  I  that  am  to  go"  is, 
of  course,  very  awkward;  but,  according  to  the  rules  of 
logic,  as  I  have  just  indicated,  if  *^  Either  he  or  I  am 
to  go"  is  grammatical, — and  it  is, — then,  **It  is  either 
he  or  I  that  am  to  go,"  must  be  correspondingly  cor- 
rect ;  but  all  sentences  that  are  grammatical  are  not  nec- 
essarily in  accordance  with  the  best  usage  of  the  lan- 
guage. This  statement  may  sound  paradoxical,  but  what 
I  wish  to  express  is,  that  a  construction  may  be  gram- 
matical so  far  as  it  conforms  to  the  rules  of  grammar, 
and  yet  it  may  not  be  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of 
rhetoric,  which  require  that  a  construction  shall  be  not 
only  grammatical,  but  euphoneous. 

Pupil. — Now,  in  the  case  of  nouns  in  apposition  used 
as  explanatory  nouns,  what  should  be  regarded  as  the 
antecedent  of  the  relative  pronoun? 

Teacher. — Strictly  speaking,  the  noun  or  pronoun  to 
which  the  appositional  noun  is  apposed,  is  the  antece- 
dent ;  thus, '  *  It  is  I,  your  teacher,  who  am  in  the  wrong. ' ' 

Pupil. — But  somewhere  I  have  seen  the  rule  that, 
for  the  sake  of  emphasis,  the  verb  sometimes  agrees 
with  the  appositional  noun,  which  would  make  the  con-' 
struction  read,  **It  is  I,  your  teacher,  who  speaks  to 
you."  I  think  that  the  example  given  is,  ^*It  is  I,  your 
father,  who  speaks/' 


60  COEEECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Teacher. — Yes;  but  the  noun  in  apposition  agrees 
in  person,  as  well  as  in  number,  with  the  noun  or  pro- 
noun to  which  it  is  apposed.  Consequently,  even  if  for 
the  sake  of  emphasis,  the  verb  were  to  agree  with  the 
appositional  noun,  the  number  and  the  person  would  be 
the  same;  thus:  **It  is  I,  your  father,  who  speak' ^;  ^*It 
is  I,  your  teacher,  who  speak  to  you."  It  is  safe  to  make 
the  verb  agree  simply  with  the  noun  or  the  pronoun  to 
which  the  appositional  noun  is  apposed,  and  then  it  will 
not  become  necessary  to  construe  the  person  of  the  appo- 
sitional noun.  Now,  you  may  give  some  examples 
exemplifying  this  rule. 

*'Can  you  not  trust  me,  I  who  am  your  friend!"  is  the 
verb  am  correct  ? 

Teacher. — ^Yes,  but  the  pronoun  1  is  incorrect. 

Pupil. — Oh  yes,  it  should  be  me,  according  to  the 
rule, — A  noun  or  pronoun  in  apposition  with  another  is 
in  the  same  case.  But  me  who  am!  That  seems  a  queer 
construction. 

Teacher. — ^What  is  the  number  and  person  of  mef 

Pupil. — Singular  number,  and  first  person. 

Teacher. — So  what  number  and  person  of  the  verb  is 
then  required! 

Pupil. — Singular  number,  and  first  person. 

Teacher. — That  is  correct.  Now  give  further  ex- 
amples. 

Pupil. — *'It  was  Mr.  Blank ,  the  Superintendent,  who 
was  in  the  office";  **It  is  you,  my  teacher,  who  are 
instructing  me." 

Pupil. — Now,  as  to  the  predicate  complement;  we 
have  decided  that  the  predicate  complement  is  the  ante- 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELPS         •'''--'>     ^^-^  \ 

cedent  of  the  relative  pronoun  in  such  constructions  as, 
'*I  am  the  man  who  is  doing  the  work  for  you." 

Teacher. — ^Yes;  the  antecedent  of  the  relative  pro- 
noun is  man. 

Pupil. — Then  the  verb  should  be  is  and  not  am. 

Teacher. — Yes;  the  verb  should  be  is,  for  the  predi- 
cate complement  man  would  be  parsed  as  being  in  the 
third  person. 

Pupil. — It  would  seem  that,  if  the  appositional  noun 
should  be  parsed  as  in  the  same  person  as  the  noun  or 
pronoun  to  which  it  is  apposed,  then  the  predicate  com- 
plement should  be  regarded  as  in  the  same  person,  for 
the  predicate  noun  always  denotes  the  same  person  or 
thing  as  the  subject. 

Teacher. — But  it  is  impossible  always  to  regard  the 
predicate  noun  and  the  subject  noun  as  in  the  same  per- 
son. Thus:  In  constructions  like,  **It  is  I,  your 
teacher,"  **I,"  the  predicate  complement,  is  in  the  first 
person,  but  the  subject  pronoun  is  in  the  third  person ;  so 
you  see  it  is  impossible,  even  though  the  predicate  noun 
and  the  subject  noun  denote  the  same  person  and  thing, 
to  construe  these  parts  as  being  of  the  same  person. 

If,  in  the  case  of  a  noun  in  apposition,  you  will  regard 
the  noun  to  which  it  is  apposed  as  the  antecedent  of  the 
relative  pronoun,  and  if  you  will  parse  the  predicate  noun, 
and  all  nouns  except  the  appositional  nouns,  as  in  the 
third  person,  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  construing  the 
number  and  the  person  of  the  verb  that  has  for  its  ante- 
cedent a  relative  pronoun. 


GOLDEN  HELP  NUMBER  XII 

Who,  Which,  and  That:   How  to  Use  Them. 

Pupil. — I  wonder  whether  I  shall  ever  understand  just 
how  to  use  the  relative  pronouns,  who,  which,  and  that. 
I  know  that  grammarians  prefer  that  when  the  sense  is 
restrictive,  and  who  or  which  when  a  new  fact  is  added ; 
but,  somehow,  I  cannot  fully  comprehend  this  subject. 

Teacher. — Commit  this  rule:  Use  that  unless  the 
meaning  is  **and  he,*'  **and  she,"  or  **and  if  In  the 
latter  case,  use  who  or  which.  "We  say,  *  *  This  is  the  man 
that  called  yesterday ; "  *  *  I  gave  the  money  to  the  driver, 
who  will  give  it  to  his  employer  ;'*  *^I  brought  her  a  book 
from  the  library,  which  she  enjoyed  very  much."  You 
will  observe  that  in  the  sentences  where  who  and  which 
are  used,  '*and  he"  and  *'and  it"  can  be  respectively 
supplied;  and,  again,  that  in  writing  out  the  sentences, 
the  comma  is  used  before  who  and  which,  showing  that  a 
new  fact  is  added. 

Pupil. — I  see  that  *'and  he"  cannot  be  substituted  for 
that  in  the  sentence,  '  *  This  is  the  man  that  called  yester- 
day, ' '  but  that  these  words  can  be  substituted  for  who  in 
the  sentence,  **I  gave  the  money  to  the  driver,  who  will 
give  it  to  his  employer;"  for  one  can,  with  equal  pro- 
priety, say,  '*I  gave  the  money  to  the  driver,  and  he  will 
give  it  to  his  employer."  So,  too,  in  the  sentence,  *^I 
brought  her  a  book  from  the  library,  which  she  enjoyed 

62 


TWELVE  GOLDEN  HELf>S  63 

very  much,"  one  may  substitute  ''and  ..  it;''  as,  ''I 
brought  her  a  book  from  the  library,  and  she  enjoyed  it 
very  much." 

Teacher. — Now,  you  may  give  a  few  illustrative  sen- 
tences. 

Pupil. — I  have  studied  the  lessons  that  you  gave  me. 
The  boy  that  was  here  yesterday  called  again  to-day. 
I  gave  the  book  to  your  brother,  who  will  return  it,  I 
wrote  several  letters,  which  you  will  find  on  my  desk. 
The  man,  whose  name  I  cannot  recall,  says  that  he  is 
related  to  me.  The  dog,  which  is  a  St.  Bernard,  saved 
the  child's  life. 

Teacher. — Very  good.  There  are  a  few  instances 
where  the  general  rule  is  hardly  applicable.  Coerect 
English  gives  the  following: 

Who  and  which  are  preferable  to  that  in  the  following 
cases : 

(a)  Who  is  preferable  to  that  when  its  antecedent  is 
already  restricted.  Thus,  ''My  friend  from  New  York 
whom.  I  had  invited  to  visit  me,  is  unable  to  come."  The 
antecedent  of  whom  is  friend.  Friend  is  limited  by  my, 
hence,  whom  is  preferred  to  that, 

(h)  Which  is  preferable  to  that  when  it  is  necessary 
to  repeat  the  pronoun  in  a  subsequent  clause  in  such  con- 
structions as,  "The  book  which  you  lent  me  and  to  which 
you  have  just  referred,"  are  preferable  to  "The  book 
that  you  lent  me  and  to  which/'  etc. 

(When  a  preposition  is  not  required,  that  is  prefer- 
able; as  "The  book  that  you  lent  and  that  I  have  just 
finished,"  etc.) 

(c)     Who  is  preferable  to  that  after  indefinite  pro- 


64  CORRECT  ENGLISH  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

nouns.  Thus,  *' There  are  many  who  could  not  come." 
** There  are  several  who  are  absent."  ** There  are  those 
who  would  hesitate  to  accept  such  terms,  while  there  are 
others  who  would  not." 

Pupil. — Of  course,  all  these  clauses  are  restrictive; 
that  is,  **and  he,"  **and  she,"  or  *^and  it"  cannot  be 
used  in  the  place  of  the  relative  pronoun.  If  it  were  not 
for  the  exceptions,  how  easy  it  would  be  to  learn  the 
rules  I 

Teacher. — That  is  true;  but  you  need  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  this  instance,  as  the  exceptions  to  the  rule  are 
few  and  easy  to  understand. 

{d)  If  the  relative  is  separated  from  its  verb,  who 
or  which  is  preferable  to  that;  thus:  '* There  are  men 
who,  although  tempted,  never  fall,  and  who,  no  matter 
what  influences  surround  them,  never  compromise  with 
their  ideals." 

{Which  is  more  euphonious  than  that  in  such  con- 
structions as,  ''The  objective  complement  is  the  word 
that  completes  the  meaning  of  the  verb  which  it  fol- 
lows.") 


rtj  J642^ 


54i;<58 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


